This Is Our Something & It Hurts
by DoodeSeriously
Summary: If Damon had met Elena first, what would have happened? He's a corrupt soul. She's an innocent girl. Two worlds collides - literally. There is nothing sweet about this story. AU. Rated M for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

_Elena is a party girl, but innocent as such. Damon is the devil in disguise. When they meet, there is no telling where they might end up._

_Pre-pilot. Pre-Stefan. Pre-death of parents. AU One more chapter will be uploaded, then we will see where Damon and Elena will take us..._

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><p>The music was blaring out of the speakers at the Lockwood Mansion. Tyler Lockwood was having one of his annual End of School parties and everyone who was anyone was attending. Amongst them were Elena Gilbert and her best friends and cohorts, Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett. They were part of the Mystic Falls IT-crowd; the top of the pyramid, together with Tyler and Matt Donovan (famously known as the school athletes, who'd kept the school in a winning reign for as long as they'd been on the team).<p>

Tyler and Caroline had been sort of dating on and off for the last year, but she was getting restless with it all. She wanted fresh meat, she had told Elena earlier in the evening as they were getting ready in Bonnie's girl's room.

'How fun is it to be 16 and stuck with one guy? I mean, come one, I wanna have fun. You know, live a little. Come fall, it's our senior year and I don't know about you, but I wanna make the most of it. So why not start now? Why do I have to wait to break up with Tyler, just cause it's not 'the right thing to do'? I wanna be single for the summer. I mean, you and Matt broke up, just like, a few weeks ago.' She looked over at Elena who was putting on blusher in front of Bonnie's vanity table.

'Yea, but I think that with me and Matt it was different.' Elena said, glancing at Caroline in the mirror. 'We were in love. You and Tyler, you aren't in love with each other or anything, so you should just be able to tell him you wanna see other people. I don't think he would mind too much.' Elena smirked at her friend. 'You're both players anyway.'

Caroline poked her tongue out at her.

Right now, Caroline's tongue did even more poking on the makeshift dance floor of Tyler's living room, into the mouth of Lance Crowe, one of this year's seniors, also a teammate of Tyler's. Tyler was visible from the other side of the room, sending them dark stares, while downing shot after shot. Elena kept eyeing him from where she was sitting. She'd never thought of Tyler as the jealous type, but she might have to reconsider. And he was known to be quite volatile at times, not that she had noticed much personally. But then again, she'd been too preoccupied with Matt before, to notice most of anything. Maybe she should tell Caroline to ease up on the saliva sharing for a while, and not the same night as she'd broken up with Tyler, _and_ in front of him at that.

Her thoughts were disrupted as a drunken Todd Williams, who reeked of too much after shave and sweat, squeezed in between her and some other girl sitting on the sofa. He tried to strike up a conversation with her, but she ignored him and stood up before he started slobbering all over her. She was just waiting for Bonnie who had disappeared to the bathroom for a quick makeup check.

Elena flattened her short pleated white skirt out before heading towards the wet bar. They were on the prowl tonight. They had made a deal that all of them should find a guy to make out with, but so far Elena had struck out. The same boring faces. The same desperation. Elena was sick and tired of it all. She wanted something new.

It had been good with Matt, but that was about it. It'd been tedious in the end.

She could see Bonnie at opposite ends of the room talking to a new student who was part of the varsity team. Clearly Bonnie had all but forgotten that Elena was waiting for her.

Elena sighed and had a lazy look around.

She spotted Caroline and _her_ football player, heading out the door. Caroline had skipped the small talk and was going straight for dessert, it seemed. They were probably going to Caroline's, since her mum, the sheriff, was working night shift. Caroline usually planned her nights after her mother's work schedule, and mostly it paid off. Guys would go home with the sheriff's daughter any time just to be able to brag about it the next day. And Caroline wasn't one to deny them that, in fact, she seemed to enjoy being the center of attention, whether it was about her skills as a cheerleader or in the horizontal league.

Pouring herself a drink she could sense someone standing right behind her. She turned around and found herself staring into a pair of the bluest of eyes she'd ever seen. And she'd been dating Matt Donovan, who was well known for his eyes as blue as a summer sky. But these eyes, they were mesmerizing. And they seemed to draw her in just by the intensity in them.

Her mouth felt dry as she tried to smile at the boy standing in front of her. He tilted his head to one side and gave her a lopsided grin.

'Hi', he said and let his gaze linger on her lips for a while before looking up at her again.

'Hi', Elena breathed slowly, trying not to stare at him. He was beautiful. With a shock of black hair and those electric blue eyes forcing her gaze to stay on him. After a closer look she realized that he was probably a few years older than her. She had just started wondering what brought him here, when he answered that question for her.

'I'm here looking for my brother, Stefan Salvatore. He should be around here somewhere. Do you know him?'

Elena shook her head no. Funnily enough this seemed to make his smile widen.

'I'm Damon, by the way. And you are…?' His eyes bore their way into hers, and she could feel a rush of heat coursing through her veins. Without him even touching her, she felt as if his eyes were caressing her, making her skin tingle and pulsate.

She licked her lips as her gaze involuntarily fell on his luscious lips that were slightly puckered into a smile.

'I'm Elena.'

'Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Elena', he said while he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. Her breath caught. No one had ever kissed her hand before. And had it been anyone else, she might have laughed. It was such an ancient thing to do. Who did such a thing nowadays, anyway? But here he was, this boy, this _man_, kissing her hand and it felt so intimate and right. And for some reason, she enjoyed it, the attention he gave her in that one single movement.

That's when she should have pulled her hand back, but she didn't and he held on to it. Elena's heart sped up when she realized this, and then it nearly came to a stop when he lightly started stroking the spot where his lips had just been with the soft pad of his thumb.

Suddenly he took a step towards her; she automatically backed into the table behind her and his grip on her hand hardened to keep her from losing her balance.

'Sorry', he said, somehow not looking apologetic at all. He reached behind her with his free hand and pulled with him a cup of beer. His leg brushed against the insides of her thighs as he bent over her, which sent a shiver through her body. She looked up at him in anticipation, not really understanding why she didn't mind his obvious invasion of her private space. Her chest heaved against his with her slightly elaborated breathing and the friction had her pulse racing. He smirked down at her before releasing her hand. 'I was just getting a drink.' He leaned back and swept his heavy lidded eyes over her. 'It was really nice to meet you, Elena. Hope to see you again soon.'

With that, he turned around and disappeared in the crowd.

Elena swallowed hard and looked around, hoping that no one had noticed that this stranger had totally made her lose her bearings. She was, after all, Elena Gilbert, queen bee of Mystic High. And to show weakness over a boy, whoever it might be, was unheard of for someone like her. It was one thing to have a guy totally crush on her, but there was no way a guy should be able to turn _her_ head. But she had a feeling that her head was just about to do a one eighty on her, because of that stranger with his piercing stare and luscious lips.

She couldn't help looking for him all night.

Damon. Even his name was suggestive.

But he was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't even up for drinking any longer. All she could think of was those blue eyes scorching her, burning her from the inside out. And how much she'd been wishing he'd kissed her when he reached out behind her for his beer. His breath had felt warm against her naked shoulder, making her shiver. She could still feel the ghost of his lips on her hand and the pure thought of it felt like lightning through her body.

He was watching her from across the room, letting his eyes freely roam over her tight body in her short skirt and pink wedges. She had those long toned legs that could easily wrap around him in an instant, slightly bronzed from being shown off in the sun all summer. He could just imagine her wearing white cotton panties with an equally innocent looking bra underneath her skimpy outfit, telling the truth of how young she really was. He got a semi just thinking of it.

When he'd first laid his eyes on her, some weeks previously, he'd thought she was Katherine. But he had quickly come to realize that this girl was not the femme fatale vampire who had turned him and deceived him. This was a girl who was just so strikingly alike the main focus of his obsession; it made his skin crawl looking at her.

Katherine was still left in the tomb, still waiting for someone to come save her. And he'd be damned if it wasn't going to be him. She would love him for all of eternity when she finally would be released after 145 years of starvation and loneliness. And in the meantime, little Elena, Katherine's unknowing twin, could become his private plaything, if he so wished. She was young and therefor easy to manipulate.

He was glad that his brother hadn't been able to suss Elena out just yet. He knew that Stefan had been sneaking around Mystic Falls the past week, trying to figure out what Damon was doing here. Dear uncle Zack was equally dumbfounded. But Damon knew that if Stefan would ever find out what his plans were, to bring Katherine back, he would try to do his best to squash them. So he kept schtum and out of the way. He wasn't even staying at the boarding house. He stayed in Fells Church a few miles from Mystic Falls in one of the B&BS there, patiently waiting out the comet that would surface within the next few months. He just had some business to attend to first, like finding the rest of the things needed to break the curse that kept Katherine so close but yet so far from him.

And _if_ Stefan would find out about Elena…

Damon could feel yet another one of his diabolical plans set to work in his head. Maybe he should hand young Elena over to Stefan and then corrupt her like the bad little girl he sensed that she really was. There was something in her eyes. A flame, a fire he knew he could ignite if he wanted to. Right now it was on a slow burner, but give him a week, or less. She would turn Stefan inside out and Damon would be there to gloat.

His younger brother made his stomach turn. Such a do-gooder and it irked him still, that years back it used to be the other way around. And now Stefan rubbed it in his face every chance he got. Not that they had spent the last century close to each other by any means, quite the opposite. But Damon had always found him every couple of years, making his brother's life hell. Just for kicks. Just for the fun of it. Just to let Stefan know, that Damon would never ever forget how he had ruined his life.

He shrugged his shoulders back to the here and now.

To Elena Gilbert.

One of her friends had led her out to the middle of the floor where a throng of teenagers were gyrating against each other to the loud music. She kept looking around to start with, craning her neck looking for him, but he kept in the shadows, enjoying the fact he knew that it was him she was on the hunt for.

Eventually she started relaxing as her friend, a dark little one called Bonnie, coaxed her to move to the beat of some obnoxious song, classed as popular, but was just making his ears bleed. Elena's shiny top kept rising up, displaying her toned midriff. And her skirt… riding up showing off, well, what do you know… a pair of tiny white panties; virgin white… like a maiden.

As if moved by an invisible force Damon felt his legs walking towards her until he was right behind her. He breathed in the fresh scent of her as her tight ass started moving against the front of his jeans. He was standing still behind her until his dick stood up in full attention from the contact. She hadn't noticed him standing there because the floor was packed with writhing teenagers, trying to move to the beat. For every stroke that her behind gave him, the more he itched to grab hold of her long hair and bite down on her neck. His canines were actually hurting and there was a slight tingle to his face where his veins threatened to pop out. But he didn't move an inch. Not until her friend, the little dark one, noticed him and nodded to Elena to turn around. As she turned, he took a step back to create some space between them.

'Oh, it's you.' she shouted over the music, still managing to sound seductive. Just in the same manner that Katherine could. 'I've been looking for you.' Her brown eyes glittered mischievously and she grinned at him.

He smirked back at her.

'Have you now?' His hands grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to him. She huffed out a short breath as her hands went up to his shoulders, while her hips kept moving to the steady beat against his. But even though her movements seemed sure, the slight blush on her cheeks told him that this wasn't her usual repertoire. His bet was that she was used to a bit more wining and dining, before getting _this_ close to someone. And her eyes showed just a fraction of fear, which he enjoyed. The fear was healthy, when encountering someone like him. It was also this fear that made the blood boil in his veins, as the natural predator he was.

They were moving more to each other's natural rhythm than to the music, their eyes locked. Elena's delicate mouth opened slightly and Damon imagined what it would be like to slip his cock in between those lips. He tried not to let his thoughts get the best of him, so he let go of her hips a little, but still standing flush against her tiny frame.

He was thinking about using compulsion on her, but then changed his mind. He wanted to see how far she was willing to go with him.

_Challenge accepted_,_ Salvatore_.

He smiled devilishly at her and she didn't even flinch. She might not be _as_ innocent as he first thought, but still, his bet was, that she was still a virgin. He could smell it on her.

Both of them had all but forgotten about Bonnie, who, seeing the tension between the two, moved away from the floor to one of the wet bars. Matt snuck up by her side and followed her gaze.

'Who's the guy?' he asked, trying to steel himself from the answer. But Bonnie just shrugged her shoulders.

'I don't know', she answered. 'I've never seen him before.'

'But Elena seems to know him', he prodded while looking at his ex-girlfriend's hips rubbing up against the tall stranger all dressed in black, trying, but not quite succeeding to turn away from the sight. 'Quite well, actually.'

'Don't', Bonnie said, and turned to him. 'I don't know who he is, and there's no use doing the whole jealousy act. She broke up with you; you just need to deal with it.' She took his arm and pulled him with her to go outside. 'No use staying in there feeling sorry for yourself. She's moving on. Maybe you should too.'

Reluctantly he followed her, but not before glancing back, seeing the black haired boy lean over the girl he loved and her not pulling away.

Elena was drowning in his gaze as Damon dipped his head closer to her face. His warm breath against her lips made her head spin and her lips parted, waiting for him to take them in possession. But he didn't. He just kept his mouth inches from hers, making them breathe each other's air. She could taste his scent on her tongue, and she had never tasted anything so sweet.

His grip on her hips was firm and she automatically rubbed herself up against him when he pulled her closer to him. She could feel his erection hard against her but not even that conjured up enough nervous fear she normally felt during these circumstances, to make herself move away from him. She and Matt hadn't done much past second base, not that he hadn't tried and not that she hadn't thought about giving in. But it hadn't felt right, and in the end, she was glad that they hadn't done anything more.

Damon's hand trailed down from her hip towards the outside of her thigh. He bent down a little to reach the hem of her skirt, and slowly pulled it upwards. He moved painfully slow, checking to see how far he could take things.

So far his fingers had managed to make it past the upper part of her soft thigh, but he couldn't smell any fear from her, only lust. His forefinger was grazing the outline of her small pants, just letting one digit slink inside of the material, when her hand struck out and pushed his arm away. He could have easily dodged her hand, since he had already sensed her movement before she made it, feeling her muscles tense. But he let her bat his hand away, since he knew that girls had a tendency to enjoy making guys look small in front of others. And also, it was important for her, that her group of friends thought she was fighting his advances. He knew the deal, having played this sort of game on numerous occasions with sorority girls around the country. It was all part of the foreplay.

And Damon loved theatrical dramatics.

Their lips were still only a breath apart when he slipped his hand on the small of her back instead. One hand on her hip and one hand keeping her pressed hard up against him he bent down and finally kissed her. She tasted heavenly. A small groan of pleasure left him as her slick tongue snaked itself between his lips while her small hands curled themselves into his hair and pulled him closer to her. She was hot for it and he was aching to fill her up and hear her whimper into his mouth, from pleasure or pain he didn't know. Right now his head was too jumbled by her sweet taste and smell that he couldn't think straight.

_This is unusual._

He was so used to being in full control of any situation. It was mystifying him that this little human girl could sneak herself so quickly inside his brain.

He pressed himself closer to her fragile body, her slight frame completely immersed in his. He sensed that she had lost her bearings, and to make sure of it, he yet again let his hand past her hips to her thigh where he slid her skirt up an inch or two. He let one of his hands trace her pert bottom and when that movement only made her moan he knew he had her.

Little Miss Perfection. Not so perfect after all.

He smirked against her lips, before he gently pulled away. She looked dazed when their eyes met. But only after a second did reality hit in. She disentangled herself from him and smoothed her skirt down, looking around for anyone who might have seen anything. Luckily for her everyone was too oblivious or too drunk to care and she seemed to relax a little.

Then she looked up at him and didn't she just look divine, with blushing cheeks barely able to meet his gaze.

'Let's go', he said and dragged her with him before she had the time to catch her breath properly. He neared a corner in one of the large studies of the mansion; it was darker and nearly obscured by a large marble table, which was partially made up of statues of the Greek god Eros, in various positions holding the heavy table top in place.

She giggled a little as he pushed her up against the wall and continued kissing her, his hands searching the hem of her skirt.

'What if someone sees us?'

'Who cares,' he mumbled against her jaw, trailing patterns down to her neck. He licked the array of intricate veins where the neck met shoulder, wishing he could just vamp out at hit her jugular. Her scent was overwhelming. It was beautiful and intriguing and simply mouthwatering.

She slid her hands under his shirt and caressed his smooth skin. She didn't even know him and she found herself drowning in him, it was as if he was compelling her to do as he pleased. He kissed her until she had to pull back to gasp for air. The hunger in his eyes startled her for a moment; he looked as if he could eat her alive.

'I could eat you up, Elena', he whispered fiercely in her ear, mirroring her thoughts. The way he pronounced her name rippled through her like a tornado as he slipped his tongue in her mouth to prove his point. He groaned against her lips, pressing his leg in between her thighs. 'And I just might.'

He inched himself down her body, making her feel sensations she'd never experienced before, just by letting his fingers and hands caress her breasts and flat stomach. He went down on his knees, looking up at her with his blue eyes shining hotly while stroking the sensitive inside of her thighs, sending shivers right through to her core.

Elena stopped his hands shy of touching her most private area. She could feel herself blush and she looked around the darkened room.

'Don't. Someone might see us.'

'Elena.'

She couldn't look at him to start with, but the sheer power of his voice seemed to control her movements, so she glanced down at him as he grabbed her hands and forced them behind her back.

'You're not going to say no, Elena. We both know you want this.' He nudged his face closer to her skirt that was by now riding high on her thighs letting him glimpse those innocent looking panties that were moist with her desires. With one hand he spread her legs a little more, inhaling her sweet arousal.

'I promise I won't go too far', he mumbled as he kissed her clit through the thin cotton.

She gasped loudly and thought her legs were going to give way; it was as if a bolt of lightning had struck her by the mere touch of his lips against her. She grabbed Damon's hair to keep herself steady and he took that as an invite to continue. Cheekily he let his tongue caress her over the light fabric while he grabbed her ass firmly. He expertly took her clit between his blunt teeth and Elena moaned in half pleasure half pain as he repeated the action a few times before letting go slipping her panties to one side to taste her properly. He slid his tongue along her wet slit and then going in deep, fucking her with his mouth, her juices flowing down his chin.

Elena bit her lip to stifle a loud moan from escaping as Damon's tongue circled her clit, sucking on it. He lifted one of her legs up to get better access, lapping her furiously, slipping one finger inside of her, while she gripped his hair, pushing him closer to her. She was so tight he nearly groaned out loud.

Damon glanced up at Elena. Her eyes were nearly glazed over from lust and he smiled confidently at her. Wiping his mouth dry with the back of his hand, he stood up and eyed the young girl in front of him. He might just have to keep this one to himself after all. She was too delicious.

'I'm taking you someplace else.' He grabbed her by her upper arm and pulled her towards the entrance and his car. There was so much a man could take before he needed to get what he deserved. And tonight Damon Salvatore deserved a treat.

Called Elena Gilbert.

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

_hank you thank you thank you for all of your reviews and story alerts and favorite alerts. That means soooo much to me it's unreal. Now, I've never written anything like this before, I'm usually a romantic, and this darker side of Damon AND Elena is strange to me, but compelling and quite intriguing. I hope you bear with me, and remember constructive criticism makes us grow as writers, I'd never be offended :)_

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><p>Elena sat quiet in the car, looking out on the dark road. Damon glanced over at her a few times, taking note of the slight increase in her heart rate the further they got from the heart of Mystic Falls. He could tell she wanted to ask where they were headed, but she had to must up the courage to do so.<p>

It was typical A-O for girls. They wanted to show they trusted the guy. Damon knew from experience that the girl usually spoke up a tiny tad too late.

'Penny for your thoughts, Elena?' he purred and she jumped at the sound of his voice.

She shifted in her seat as if to say she wasn't a bit freaked out not knowing the destination.

'Just wondering where we're going, is all.' Her voice sounded a little shaky even as she smiled at him.

'We're heading back to mine,' Damon answered nonchalantly as they turned to corner and the boarding house came into sight. It looked sort of ominous immersed in darkness, and he did enjoy the feel of it. He hadn't been here for years, but it looked well taken care of.

He parked the car outside and opened the passenger door for Elena. She hesitated before she stepped out, looking at the exterior of the large building with huge eyes.

'You actually live here?' She turned to him. 'How come I haven't seen you before?'

'This is family heritage. I've travelled around a bit with my brother. I'm his legal guardian, since our parents passed away years ago. He's been going to boarding schools across Europe. Last one was an art school in Italy.' He motioned for them to walk towards the entrance.

Elena glanced up at him as she passed him, tilting her chin up, trying to look fearless. She wasn't fooling anyone though and he chuckled softly and followed her, opening the door for her while putting his forefinger against his lips to show her to keep quiet.

'Better not wake my uncle and I guess my brother's around here somewhere too by now', he whispered and the relief in Elena was visible as her shoulders dropped a fraction, relaxing from the obvious tension she'd felt thinking she'd been there alone with him.

These fragile humans, thinking for a second that just because another person was in the vicinity, there was anything they could do to help. Damon tried a smile that he hoped was friendly, but the thoughts that swirled around his head at that very moment were as far from friendly as one could get. Unless you call sucking someone dry while fucking them senseless could be deemed as friendly in any way, shape or form. The thought excited him enough to make his jeans feel tight and uncomfortable around the crotch area.

Passing the library, Damon grabbed a bottle of whiskey and two tumblers. Elena eyed the bottle warily and he stopped before heading up the stairs.

'What?' He asked, raising an eyebrow, following her gaze.

Elena smiled tentatively.

'Nothing. I just..' She hesitated. 'I'm hoping you're not expecting me to drink that…', pointing to the bottle and scrunching her nose up, making Damon wish he could fang out and slam her against a wall, '…without anything to mix it with?'

He looked at her incredulously.

'You're gonna want to..?' He had to stop himself for a minute. 'You can't be serious?'

The look on her face gave it all away. She was serious. He walked past her, shaking his head.

'The things I do to get laid', he mumbled as he walked into the kitchen to pick up a can of coke from uncle Zack's fridge. Or, if getting picky, his fridge that he let uncle Zack use.

_For the time being anyway._

He gave Elena a toothy smile and he jerked his head for her to follow him upstairs.

'Whiskey and coke for the lady and whiskey neat for me', he said as he'd invited her to his room.

He loved his room. It was large and open spaced with a humongous bed in the middle of it. The shower room was like a big extension of the room itself, with a glass covered area for the shower, leaving nothing to imagination when standing under running water. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. And lots for him to gawk at when he had female company.

There was a fire place in one end of the room with a two seated incliner in front of it. This is where he brought Elena. He effortlessly started a fire after putting on some soft music and poured them two drinks.

'I hope you're good with no ice,' he asked Elena as he settled down on the sofa with her, making sure their legs touched. 'I'd bring you some, but the coke should be cold enough. And with my uncle around…' He didn't finish the sentence already knowing Elena wouldn't protest. She was a good girl, she wouldn't want to be any trouble. As guaranteed, she shook her head and told him just that.

'So, where's your uncle?' She looked around the room, as if she'd find said uncle in one of the corners of the room. 'It's a large house.'

Damon shrugged his shoulders.

'As I've said, it's an old boarding house, so there are a few rooms. There are six bedrooms and four bathrooms, excluding mine. Two rooms on this side of the stairs and four on the other side. My uncle lives in one of the ones on the other side.'

'Where does your brother stay?'

'He's on this side, in the loft above my room. My baby brother is a loner. Likes to keep to himself.' Damon couldn't help a frown, which Elena picked up on right away.

'You're not very fond of your brother, I take it?

Damon laughed.

'Very perceptive of you, Elena. No, no tears lost between baby brother and myself. But enough about me.' He shifted in his seat, focusing completely on her. She blushed at his scrutiny.

'What do you want to know?'

Damon's eyes roamed her tight body, that tiny top leaving hardly nothing to imagination. She must know that she was driving any living (or undead) male absolutely crazy, with her short skirt and her vanilla scented perfume increasing the feel of innocence surrounding her to nearly numbing proportions. He let the back of his finger glide over her naked thigh, feeling her shiver under his touch.

'What I really wanna know is how you've got no boyfriend, Elena.' He turned his hand so the sole of his hand was resting on the top of her leg, his thumb just an inch or two from the junction between her thighs. Slowly he started stroking the soft inside of her leg, getting closer and closer. Her increased breathing was music to his ears. No more foreplay, he couldn't give a flying fuck about getting her drunk or high or compel the shit out of her. She had a fearlessness that intrigued him and he wanted her lucid and willing while he came inside of her, in her mouth, on her stomach. Wherever. He was getting turned on just by looking at her little pout and the contours of her nipples against the thin fabric of her silky top.

Damon set his tumbler down on the floor next to the sofa and turned to take Elena's tumbler out of her hand. But Elena picked up on this and quickly downed the light brown liquid before sticking it in his outstretched hand. He chuckled as she frowned from swallowing the whiskey that he'd drizzled a few splashes of coke into. There was so much he could take in ruining a perfect Glenlivet.

Elena shook her hair out over her shoulders and met his gaze squarely. And Damon knew she wasn't going to back out of anything. He pulled her onto his lap in one fluid movement so she was straddling him.

'I haven't got a boyfriend cause I wanna be able to see whomever I want', she answered breathless as she grabbed his shoulders in a tight grip. She was nervous as hell. Damon wasn't the type of guy that'd just rounded second base without wanting to hit third right away. Right now she was in or out.

_In or out._

The alcohol was numbing her brain slightly. She felt his hard on rubbing against her and his hands had somehow found their way around her waist and was now lingering just above the curve of her back. She knew that any second now they'd glide down to her bottom and snake their way under her skirt. She knew, it was in his eyes. Those fiery blue eyes screaming out danger, but she couldn't look away. She wouldn't move and in a daze she closed her eyes as his lips found hers.

_In. I'm in._

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><p>Mmm. She felt good. She looked good. She tasted even better.<p>

Damon had nestled his way in under those tiny panties fingering her lightly, before licking her juices off his finger and carrying her over to his bed. She was still smiling, holding on to the whiskey bottle that she had still to have a sip from. He'd urged her on, but she'd said no. He'd wanted her relaxed, but looking at her now, legs spread on top of his duvet, her top riding up just under her breasts, she couldn't be more relaxed had she been rendered unconscious.

He didn't really get it, not that he cared much. But shouldn't she be a little bit scared by now? Feeling a little uneasy? Elena's eyes were glazed over with lust and her legs were moving slowly over the black silk on his bed, trying to cover herself up with her free hand. It was sexy at the same time as it was such an innocent motion. Damon was almost drooling.

He pulled her closer to him and spread her legs wider. She giggled and tried to get away, but in a coy way. It sent a thrilling shiver down his spine and he could yet again feel the predator inside of him come to life.

Kneeling on the bed he grabbed Elena's arms and yanked her up so she was sitting straddling his lap. He bent her arms behind her back and kissed her roughly before pulling her even closer to him, leaving one hand holding her wrists in a firm grip while grabbing her neck with his other.

'Elena', he purred, licking her neck and her jaw. 'You'd better not tell me half way through that you're not gonna go through this. I'm not one to take no for an answer.'

This was the usual game to him. But this time, oddly enough, he meant it. He was giving her an out. He grabbed her neck harder, pulling her face back a bit so she could look him in the eye. The was fear there, but also a stubbornness he'd love to fuck right out of her system.

Damon heard Elena's breathing accelerate and her pulse was beating hard under his thumb from where he was holding her neck. His mouth was dry and the dull ache from his incisors was getting harder and harder to ignore.

'So, what's it gonna be?'

Elena swallowed loudly and her eyes flickered to his mouth.

'I'm in.' Her voice was barely a whisper and she cleared her throat. 'I'm staying.'

'Good', he said and let her go. He slid off the bed and stood up in front of her. 'Now, I'd like you to undress yourself. Slowly.'

Her huge doe eyes blinked at him a few times and her mouth opened and shut. Elena started shaking her head, before Damon held up a finger to be quiet. There was a blush building up, coloring her cheeks in the most flattering way, especially to a vampire.

Damon punctuated every word he said.

'You said you're in. This is how it goes. My house, my rules.' He smirked at her. 'I'm not asking you to act like a dirty stripper. I'm just telling you to get naked.'

Elena nodded and tucked her hair behind her ears, looking good enough to eat. Damon didn't know if he could hold out much longer, but being a sucker for punishment, he painfully readjusted himself while watching the lovely virgin in front of him slowly pull her tiny top over her head. She gave him a little smile and threw the top at him. He caught it and let it drop to the floor.

Nina Simone was singing sultry in the background as Elena stood up on the bed, a little bit more confident seeing the slightly goofy expression on Damon's face. She didn't think she had it in her, but apparently she did. She knew how to do sexy, but only with guys her own age. She did have the confidence, but Damon was older and seemed worldlier than the boys she usually hung with.

Elena brought her arms behind her head and let her hair glide between her fingers. Never letting her eyes leave his face, she gingerly touched her breasts pinching her nipples through the silky material of her bra. Elena reached out behind her back and unhooked the bra. She let it fall on the bed in front of her.

Damon licked his lips as she cupped her breasts and weighed them in her hands before continuing caressing her torso down to her waist, stopping by the waist of the skirt. She hooked her thumbs just inside the material and started pulling the skirt down, but stopped. Damon was watching her closely, and she shivered under his scrutiny. There was something feral in his movements as he closed in on her, grabbing her waist, pulling her close.

'Don't lose the skirt, leave it on', he whispered hoarsely in her ear.

He reached in under her skirt and ripped her panties off, leaving a burning sensation as the material broke around her. She gasped as he smiled up at her, his eyes cutting through her, leaving her breathless. He was absolutely the sexiest she'd seen before. He was a man, not a boy and she just knew that he was dangerous. She should be afraid of him. She _was_ afraid of him, but not in the way she should.

She leaned down and kissed him, letting her tongue trace his upper lip and he opened up to her. Their tongues tasted each other, teasing and testing and pursuing the other. Damon groaned against her lips before letting her go.

'Lay down on the bed', he commanded. Elena smiled but did as she was told. It was the way he sounded that made her confidence rise. As if she had the control, although she wasn't too sure that the control was on her side in reality.

As she lay down Damon quickly undressed. He was watching her, spread out on his bed again, her lips slightly parted, her puckered nipples inviting him to bite down on her breasts, sucking on them and fucking them, doing all sorts of sordid things to them. Fuck, he just wanted to take her hard and ruthlessly and bite her and enjoy the fact that she was a virgin. It's not like she'd told him she was, but he'd lived long enough, seen enough and fucked enough to know a virgin when he saw one. And this one, he was going to enjoy.

Damon sat down on the bed, between her parted legs.

'I want you to touch yourself', he said in a low, controlled voice. Far more controlled than he felt. Elena flashed him a cheeky grin.

'How would you like me to touch myself?'

Her question caught him slightly off guard, but he quickly found his posture.

'I want you to finger yourself while touching your breasts. I want you to fuck yourself with your fingers and I want you to give yourself an orgasm while I watch.'

Elena slowly brought two fingers to her mouth while the other hand started pulling at her nipples. She licked her fingers while holding Damon's gaze, bringing her fingers all the way into her mouth, sucking on them, moving them in and out in a steady pace. Damon couldn't keep his eyes off her mouth. Eventually she moved her hands downwards past the skirt riding up her waist to her smooth thighs and her clean shaven pussy.

'You mean like this?' she whispered.

Damon groaned out loud as Elena slid her fingers along her slit, dipping them inside, bringing them out again, glistening of her juices. She circled her clit slowly while massaging her breasts, her nipples in full attention from her touches. Elena moaned quietly and closed her eyes while rubbing her clit faster and faster.

Damon started stroking himself while watching her, mesmerized by the pure sexual beauty she radiated. She continuously kept fondling her clit, moaning in satisfaction, totally oblivious of him. He couldn't hold back anymore, he couldn't wait for her to come.

He pushed a finger inside of her, slowly, bit for bit, until it was deep inside of her. He moved his finger in a circular motion, feeling her soft wet walls constrict around him. She was so tight and so young and so hot he had trouble focusing on anything but slamming his dick inside of her and ripping into her throat.

He took his finger in his mouth, and licked it free of her before sliding two fingers inside of her, stretching her little by little. He kept jerking off to the soft noises coming from her and he bent down and moved her hand away with his cheek before rubbing her swollen clit with his tongue. Her moans grew louder and he started sucking her clit, massaging it between his lips. He pushed his fingers deeper inside of her, tasting her juices, trying not to come, trying not to fall over the edge too soon.

_Shit. She was unreal._

He withdrew his fingers and slipped his tongue between her wet folds, letting her juices flow into his mouth. Her legs were shaking slightly and her head was thrashing against the pillow, one of her hands covering her mouth from screaming out loud.

Damon grabbed hold of her with his arm under her thigh and his hand curled across her waist as his tongue prodded deeper inside of her.

His eyes opened in surprise as he felt cold liquid in and around his mouth and the taste of whiskey. Elena was pouring whiskey straight from the bottle onto her naked pussy and he lapped it up smiling. This girl had spunk, he had to give her that. He let the whiskey mix with her natural taste, before he started rubbing her clit with his tongue again. She let go of the whiskey bottle to grab hold of the sheets next to her, but he didn't care that his bed was soaking in whiskey. All he cared for was the taste and sound of Elena. He started sucking on her clit rhythmically, and her hips bucked underneath him, moving in response to him. Her legs were shaking violently now, she was coming any second, so he fanged out.

By nature, as a vampire you could bite to hurt or just bite for pleasure. More often than not, he'd bite for pleasure for himself, which meant; the one he was biting would be in pain, a hell of a lot of pain. Damon enjoyed enforcing pain on others, it was part of who he was.

But tonight, something altered. He wanted her to enjoy this while he got what he wanted. He licked around her clit warming the area with his tongue, sucked on her harder and faster and as she came he sank his fangs into the soft skin on each side of her clit while he kept sucking on it, his tongue swirling around her, mixing her cum with her blood.

_Ecstasy._

Damon's mind was reeling. This was fucking fantastic.

Elena's elaborated panting turned into silent screams of pleasure. She moaned his name and he came in the sheets as the last wave of her orgasm left her body. He groaned against her and withdrew his fangs, keeping his head against her flat stomach and his arms around the tops of her thighs while he waited to de-vamp. He could've just not cared, but he did. He didn't want to compel her for some reason. He'd had her willingly. The first girl in a very long time he hadn't fucked to hurt and then compelled to forget.

There was something about Elena. It freaked him out a little and he stood up without looking at her. He walked over to the fireplace and picked up his drink. He looked at her over his shoulder before downing the whiskey in one go. She was laying there, a dark haired angel on his bed.

_Angel of doom, more likely. _

He frowned.

'Get your clothes, I'll drive you home'.

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><p><em>Remember; reivews is love!<em>


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: To those of you who've asked about Katherine, please re-read the first chapter. The reasons for him noticing Elena as not being Katherine are stated there._

_I'm on holiday at the moment, so I'll reply to your reviews as soon as I get home. I'm just feeling inspired to write right now. And I wanted to get another chapter out there to say THANK YOU for being so adorable to me when I'm trying something new. This is also a thank you, to all of you who are following my stories, though they might be far apart (on that note I'll also have you know that B&B will be updated quite soon.)_

_Warning: this chapter is rated M. Not to give too much away but slight play on the thought of sodomy. No actual penetration. If its not your cuppa, please don't read this chapter. This is dark!Damon, if you like him as a cuddly Stefan, this is not for you!  
><em>

_Without further ado, here is chapter 3:_

* * *

><p>Elena hadn't heard from Damon since he'd dropped her off a week ago. She'd given him her phone number and she had expected him to call. But now, her confidence was wavering. Maybe he thought she was too young and too inexperienced. Maybe he thought that she was crap in bed. She'd been willing to give herself up for him, maybe he didn't like virgins. Maybe he'd wanted someone with more experience who knew what they were doing. It was driving her crazy not knowing.<p>

Bonnie and Caroline had both been badgering her about the stranger from the dance floor. Bonnie cause she'd seen him and thought he was hot. And Caroline cause she'd missed out and wanted to know what he was like.

It was five weeks shy of graduation and most of her exams were over and done with. Not that she would've been able to concentrate on anything anyway. Her parents kept nagging her to look for a summer job, and she'd applied to one of the local clothes shops and as a waitress as The Mystic Grill. She needed the extra money, if she wanted to go to that festival in Georgia in the beginning of August, that Caroline wouldn't stop shutting up about. A few famous bands and a few unknowns, but most important, a weekend away from home. Miranda, her Mom, had been on her case to decide on colleges she should go to. And her Dad, Grayson, kept pushing her into medicine like himself.

Elena wanted to be a writer. Maybe a journalist. She could see herself writing for The Times in New York one day. She wasn't going to stay in Mystic Falls forever. She kept writing short stories and she'd kept a diary since she was young. She'd been writing a monthly article on sporting events for the school paper, since being part of the cheering squad kept her a jour on all the events.

She sighed as she looked down at the different brochures over all the colleges that interested her. She was sitting outside the gym waiting for cheer practice to start. Everyone was late as usual but she could see Caroline's blonde tresses bouncing across the yard, just past the rhododendrons lining the walkway.

'Hey Lena', Caroline shouted as she saw her friend. 'What you doing?'

Elena smiled up at her and started gathering up the scattered papers and put them in her bag. She adjusted her ponytail and shook her head.

'Mom and Dad are driving me crazy with all the talk about colleges. Is your Mom giving you crap as well?'

Caroline shrugged her shoulders and set the boom box down on the ground and took her sweater off, showing a toned midriff and a pair of long lanky legs under her short cheering skirt.

'I don't think my Mom even know I exist, to be honest. All I know is that I wanna be on the news, you know, as a news anchor. I think I'd be really great at it.' Caroline's curls bobbed gently as she talked and Elena felt a warm tenderness against her ditsy friend. Caroline could be so annoying at times, but she wouldn't hurt a fly. And she'd do anything for her friends.

The rest of the girls started showing and they all lined up in formation, warming up before practice started. Caroline was making sure they all knew the routine for the next cheer competition that would be held in a week's time in Wilmington, but most of the time went to talking about the past weekend where some teenagers had suddenly disappeared from a camping trip and news about two bodies showing up a few miles south, obviously half eaten by animals. Tragic accident, they called it. One of the dead teens was a cousin to one of the girls on the team, so Caroline decided to cut the session short for once, threatening to whip them all next practice if they didn't know the routines by heart by then.

Elena laughed at Caroline's grumpy face as she picked up her sweater and water bottle. She chucked them both in her bag and was just about to turn to Caroline to ask if she wanted to go for a coffee after they'd showered, when she saw something dark in the corner of her eye. She glanced over and her heart skipped a beat.

'I didn't know you were a cheer leader', Damon drawled as he lazily started walking over to her. The girls still on the field went quiet as they all eyed the tall and dark stranger with his piercing blue eyes firmly watching Elena as he closed in on her. She blushed, remembering where his mouth had been and what she'd done to herself in front of him. He smiled wickedly and she composed herself. He hadn't called her all week and now he just showed up from out of nowhere as if nothing had happened.

'There's a lot you don't know about me.' Her jaw set and she squared her shoulders. There was no way she was going to give in to him if he'd ask her out. No way in hell, she'd make him suffer for letting her wait on him.

'I guess so', he replied with a smirk. He was standing right in front of her and reached out his hand to touch the material of her top that ended just under her ribs. She shivered as his fingers grazed her bare skin. She took a step back and put her bag in front of her so he couldn't touch her any more. There was a second where his eyes turned cold, but it disappeared so quickly she thought it'd been a mistake as his smile grew wider. He put his hands in the pockets of his jeans, and looked around before settling on her face again.

'I've offended you.'

Elena didn't say anything. Mostly because he had, and she didn't want him to know how much it had hurt her, but also because she wanted to let him suffer a little for being a jerk.

His eyes met hers.

'Ok, then.' He turned and sauntered off, flashing the other girls a brilliant smile, that had a swooning effect on them all. He didn't give Elena a second glance, he just got into his car and drove off.

She huffed in surprise and anger and threw her bag back on the ground. Caroline was beside her within seconds of him disappearing around the building in a cloud of dust.

'Was that who I think it was?' she gasped slightly. 'Mygod, Lena, he's so sexy.' Two of the girls behind Caroline nodded eagerly.

'You need to tell me all about him. Grab your bag, let's have a quick shower and go to The Grill. I want all the dirty details on that sexy beast.' Caroline dragged Elena with her towards the changing rooms. 'Jeez, girl. talk about secretive. He's definitely not just a guy who'd walk you to your door and give you a peck on the cheek.' She looked over at Elena who's brain hadn't started working properly yet.

'You've been holding out on us, and I don't like it one bit.'

* * *

><p><em>This is fucking fucked up. This girl is fucking with your head. <em>

_Seriously fucked. Up. _

Damon slammed the door to the boarding house shut and stalked over to the wet bar in the library. He'd given up on the B&B after the night with Elena. Stefan had of course noticed the human scent lingering around the house, scalding him for bringing a human over to their house. Damon had told Stefan that he should be glad he wasn't forced to wash blood off the carpets, so could he just please shut the hell up with his preaching, just this once. Stefan had given him one of his moody brows and head shakes before leaving Damon alone with his head filled with Elena and her soft thighs and doe eyes, before he'd drunk himself into oblivion and gone off on a hunting excursion.

He'd ended up bumping into a hot little thing and her boyfriend shacking up in the woods. He'd fucked the girl while forcing her boyfriend to watch, then killed the guy as the girl was screaming her pretty little head off. He'd ended up snapping her neck out of boredom, while thinking of Elena's breasts bouncing, and her warm blood mixed with her cum and how good she'd tasted and how much he'd wanted to fuck her. And how he didn't get how she was still alive and a virgin. And how fucked up that really was.

He'd stayed away from her, watching her again from the shadows. Smelling her scent as she walked past him at night after splitting up from seeing her friends at The Grill. He hated the way she made him feel and he conjured all his feelings up into one word; Katherine.

It was driving him crazy that he was so close to her but that he still couldn't hold her and kiss her. He'd waited so long for this moment. And then Elena showed up. All innocence and white cotton underwear and it messed with his head.

And now here he was, scolding himself for not even lasting a full week without talking to her. The taste of her blood had him wanting more. She'd tasted divine. And it wasn't as if he hadn't had a virgin before, that wasn't it. It was the way she acted, her personality. Her eyes. Her mouth. She was Katherine, but still the complete opposite and he couldn't get enough.

She'd been pissed off with him. The anger radiating from her turned him on, and he wanted her panting for him, so he left. Girls like her couldn't take being stood up. He'd have her where he wanted her in the end, it was all about patience, and Damon knew all about patience. It was part of the hunt. The chase was always more exciting than the actual kill ever was. He just had to calm himself the fuck down.

And the fact that baby bro was enrolling in school with her was more fantastic than Damon could've ever imagined. He just wished he could be there to see Stefan's face as he saw Elena for the first time.

_Priceless._

* * *

><p>Elena was still reeling from the humiliation of Damon just leaving her like that, in front of her friends. She could still feel her cheeks burning while Caroline ordered them both almond lattes with extra foam.<p>

'So, Damon', Caroline started. 'Not only is he older than us, but he's sex on legs and he's got one of the hottest asses I've ever seen. And his car? Mygod, Elena.'

Caroline's phone interrupted her and she rummaged around in her bag before she could find it. Elena zoned out of the conversation Caroline was obviously having with her Mom. She just wanted to go home and pull the covers over her head and cry. Damon was cruel, and she hated him.

She was happy she hadn't given her virginity to him now, and she was mortified that she'd let him go down on her. She knew that Caroline was fishing for details, but she refused to give in. Caroline, bless her, couldn't keep a secret for more than an hour tops, and there was no chance Elena was up to having her (non existing) sex life spread all over school right now.

'Right, Mom wants to know if you wanna have dinner with us tonight. She's buying pizza.' Caroline rolled her eyes. 'Sometimes I wish my Mom was a bit more like yours. I'd like a home cooked meal every once in a while.'

Elena smiled. She knew that it must be hard having the sheriff as a Mom. Not only that. Caroline's Dad had come out as gay and gone to live with his boyfriend. But Caroline had been friends with Elena since kindergarten, and even if Caroline sometimes annoyed Elena to no end, their friendship was a strong one. Bonnie and Caroline didn't always see eye to eye, and Elena was the glue that held them all together. They called themselves the three musketeers, and Elena couldn't see herself without any of them. They were a package deal. Even guys wanting to date them knew that.

Elena couldn't' help the sigh that passed her lips.

Caroline narrowed her eyes as she scanned her friend's face.

'If you don't wanna, it's ok. I'll just tell Mom that maybe next time, if she's smart, she might think about what she's actually offering our guests.'

Elena shook her head vehemently.

'No, that's not it, Care. I've just got a lot on my mind, is all.'

'Yea, you do', smiled Caroline. 'A lot of Damon.' She giggled, and finished her latte.

'Look, I'm gonna have to head on home, if you wanna come you're more than welcome, but like I said, it's ok if you don't.'

'Of course I'll come with,' Elena replied and grabbed her bag. 'It might actually do me some good, having something else to think about.'

They paid for their drinks and headed off to Elena's car.

Elena liked spending time at Caroline's. Sheriff Forbes was always trying her hardest to make everyone feel at home, and Elena relaxed back into the recliner in their living room after dinner. She could hear Caroline and her Mom arguing about course work and summer jobs, which was just about the same arguments that was going on in her own home.

Caroline came in and threw herself next to Elena and stretched her legs out in front of her. They sat quiet for a long time watching the screen in mutual silence. This is why she enjoyed Caroline's company sometimes. That no matter how ditsy she was and nosy and wacky, she always seemed to know when Elena just wanted a friend around, being there, supporting her.

As it started coming up to ten pm, Elena's phone buzzed. She sat up, loosening her stiff muscles, before grabbing her phone.

'That's my Mom. I have to go home. Remember it's that auction thing tomorrow over at the Lockwood's and we've promised to help out?'

Caroline laughed at her.

'Remember? I'm the one making sure we _are_ helping out. I'm telling you, without me there would be no one younger than thirty-five at those gatherings.'

Elena giggled as she walked out towards her car.

'Goodnight, Mrs. F', she called before she shut the door.

'Goodnight, Elena. Be careful out there tonight, we've had some really nasty things happening lately', she heard the sheriff reply as the door closed.

Elena was still smiling as she drove off down the road. The sheriff had always worried about her daughter and her friends going outside at night. They'd had a problem with wolves in the woods lately, and with the two teens killed only a few nights ago, she understood the concern. But she was safe in her car, and she wouldn't have to walk far up her drive way when she got home.

* * *

><p>The lights were on outside as she parked her car. She heard a noise further down the road as she was locking her car that startled her, and she shook her head for being so easily frightened. She turned around, and there he was, staring at her under black thick lashes.<p>

She swallowed hard, and quickly scanned the area.

'How did you get here? How did you know where I live?'

Damon smiled at her and tilted his head to one side.

'I asked around, it's a small town.'

Elena didn't like the small part of her that was flattered that he'd asked about her to find out where she lived. She narrowed her eyes and stuck her chin out.

'You could've just called me, you know,' she said and gave him an icy stare.

He nodded once.

'You're still angry I take it. So, what I wanna know is, how long that's gonna last.' He flashed a smile at her. 'Cause I wanted to ask you out.'

Elena couldn't believe the audacity.

'Look, I need to get inside. My Mom is waiting for me.' She tried to walk past him but he moved in front of her, blocking her way. She looked up at him, anger fading into something else. 'Damon. Why would I want to go out with you now? I gave you my phone number and you never called me back.'

He moved closer to her, pressing her between the car door and his body. His hand gently touched her face, his thumb stroked her lips which parted automatically. She could feel his muscles against her body, playing under his skin. And fear bubbled up her spine and she tried to push him away from her. But she wasn't fearing that he'd hurt her, it was her own body's response to him that scared her. Her hips that rubbed against his hardness and her lips longing for him to kiss her. Her head inadvertently tilting back just a fraction as his face closed in on hers.

He grabbed her hands and forced them behind her back, smirking down at her, and she hated him at that moment. She hated the fact that her body was enjoying his advances, and she hated herself even more in knowing that she'd give in to him.

Elena felt one of his hands let go of her wrist to slowly caress her lower back, fondling her behind, grabbing hold of her thigh and pulling her against him. She wrapped her leg around his waist and he lifted her up so she was rubbing against him. The heat from her core sent pulsating waves through her body. He kissed her as his free hand found her already puckered nipple and he squeezed and rubbed it through the thin material of her silk camisole.

'I'm here now', Damon whispered as his tongue traced her upper lip. She whimpered as he pinched her nipple harder. He bit her lower lip and pressed himself hard against her. 'Isn't that what's important, Elena?'

The way he whispered her name sent hot flushes down her spine and she grabbed his neck to keep from falling. She lifted her other leg around his waist and he groaned out loud. Her short skirt covered next to nothing in this position and Damon slunk his hands under her firm behind and pulled her tiny panties to one side. He kissed her coarsely and let one digit slide between her nether folds. She gasped against his mouth and he pushed the finger inside of her, relishing in the tight fit. Elena let out a sigh of relief.

'Let me inside your house, Elena,' he mumbled against her lips. 'Let me in so I can taste you.'

He kissed her again, sucking on her lip, rubbing against her, his hands everywhere and she could feel her orgasm closing in. His finger grazed her clit and colors exploded behind her eyes, her breathing shallow and rapid as she clenched her thighs around him.

'Damon, no!' She exclaimed and tried to push away from him but he held her tight and kept rubbing his fingers against her.

'Oh yea, Elena,' he whispered hotly in her ear. 'You know you want to.'

Elena kept pushing against his shoulders, trying to break free from him. She'd realized that they were outside her home, her parents or neighbors could see them at any minute even if it was dark outside.

'Not out here, not like this. Please Damon.'

Something in her pleading made him stop. He let her go at took a step back while watching her straighten out her underwear and mini skirt. He licked his lips and tried his last ounce of constraint.

'Then invite me in.'

Elena looked up at him, with flushed cheeks and tangled up hair.

'I can't. My parents…'

'Your parents won't ever know.' He smirked down at her, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. 'I promise.'

The thought of Damon sneaking into her room, feeling her up in her room with her parents downstairs turned her on to no end. Damon could obviously see it in her eyes, because he smirked and nodded and dragged her towards the door.

They stopped by the entrance and Damon pulled her closer to him.

'You invite me in, and I go to your room. You make nice with your parents for a while.' He glanced towards the door. 'Where _is_ your room by the way?'

Elena giggled excitedly.

'It's upstairs, second door on your right. My brother's room's there as well.'

Damon nodded for her to open the door and Elena stepped inside. Damon stood still on the other side of the opening with his hands perched on either side of the door frame. His eyes were glowing in the half-darkness from the lights in the hallway.

Elena turned around and faced him, a look of confusion on her face.

'What are you waiting for?' she hissed. 'They might see you.'

'Then invite me in, poutie.' Damon whispered back and rolled his eyes.

Elena made a grab for his hand.

'What are you, a vampire needing an invitation?' she said, exasperated.

'Wouldn't you like that?' Damon replied with a smirk.

Elena rolled her eyes at him.

'Come on in then. Hurry up.'

Damon stepped over the threshold and made for the stairs. Elena couldn't even hear the creaky board in the middle of the stairs that she always had to step over to sneak out, and as she looked around to check if Damon was still standing behind her, to her surprise he was gone. She stood there for a few seconds, not really knowing if he'd really gone upstairs or left through the front door.

'Elena, is that you?', her mother called from the kitchen. Elena sighed and tried her best to straighten out her hair and clothes. Her face still felt flushed and she tried to breathe calmly through her nose as she walked into the kitchen.

Walking up the stairs around ten minutes later, she couldn't even remember the conversation she'd had with her mother. Her face felt numb and she could barely hear anything over the beating in her ears from her racing pulse. She put her hand against the door and swallowed hard. As she pushed the door open she let out a deep sigh. This was it.

Elena couldn't see him anywhere and the disappointment came rushing like a tornado through her body. But before she'd had a chance to curse his name, a hand blinded her from behind.

'I bet you thought I'd gone, didn't you?' Damon whispered coarsely in her ear. He kept his hand covering her eyes while letting his other hand follow the curve of her neck, down her shoulder and arm, to her waist.

'You're such a sexy little thing, I can barely get my head around it.' She heard him inhale deeply. 'And you smell so good.' He nibbled her neck with his blunt teeth. She shivered slightly. Then she heard the door lock.

He turned her around and started undressing her. He handled her so delicately, she felt like a cherished flower under his touch. He kissed the palms of her hands and her cheeks as he slowly took off the last piece of clothing from her body, and she was standing in front of him, naked but feeling as the most beautiful creature in the world.

Damon pulled her with him to the bed, and he chuckled as he pushed her teddies away from the bed, before he laid her down on it.

He crawled on top of her with catlike grace. Elena gingerly touched him and she felt his muscles tense under her fingers. Damon bent down and kissed her, slipping his tongue between her lips, forcing entry as he lowered his body over hers and she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer.

Damon rolled them over so she was on top of him and he lifted her as if she'd been light as a feather, so she was straddling his face. Elena didn't really have time to reflect on how this made her feel because she felt Damon's slick tongue snake itself along her slit. She held on to the wall in front of her when he prodded her deeper and deeper.

He hadn't been joking when he'd said he wanted to taste her.

She tried to stay still but found herself rocking against his mouth, crushing his nose and his lips, covering his face in her juices. Elena was moaning out loud as Damon sucked hard on her clit and he slipped a finger inside of her, pressing against a spot she'd never known existed until now, that shot wave after wave of pleasure through her body.

Elena couldn't stop herself. She grinded her pussy against his face while pinching her nipples. It felt so good she could barely breathe. She felt Damon add another finger and Elena kept pushing down on him, not caring if she might hurt him in the process. She was close to an orgasm and it was an amazing feeling.

In a daze she noticed him shifting position of his arms and a slight pressure against her second opening. He moved his thumb in a circular motion and Elena's muscles relaxed since it felt quite good. Damon was still sucking her, moaning quietly and she kept a steady pace, moving up and down over his face. Suddenly she felt the pressure he'd put on her behind break and his thumb slid just inside of her tight opening. She gasped and he grabbed her hips with his other hand, keeping her steady.

After a short initial pain Elena couldn't help but moving faster and Damon helped along with his hand, pushing her down on him. Her legs started shaking from the approaching orgasm, heightened by the brand new sensation that Damon had forced upon her. Her breathing came in shallow bursts and she cried Damon's name as she came all over his face.

He slowly withdrew from her and lifted her down so she was positioned against his chest. This was the first she'd realized he'd been fully dressed this whole time.

Damon wiped his mouth with his hand and smiled.

'You taste fucking amazing.'

Elena blushed and felt vulnerable all of a sudden without clothes, naked next to him. Damon sat up and bent over to kiss her, before he stood up and straightened out his clothes. He leaned over her again and kissed her forehead.

'Let me know when you're ready for that date', he said before he unlocked the door and closed it silently behind him.

Elena sat frozen for a minute or two, before she found her bearings and covered up with a quilt that had fallen on the floor earlier. Her hand went up to her mouth as a sob broke the silence of her room.

_What had just happened?_

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><p><em>Remember; reviews equals love.<em>


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I will never get away from asking you guys for forgiveness for always updating so damn late. I truly am sorry. I don't wanna get too soppy, but being a single mum with a full time job leaves hardly any time to write, but I love it so much, I don't want to stop doing it. And I thank you so much for your amazing support. **

**Some serious thank you's are owed to LavenderLou07, LokYa, BadBoysAreBest, aj81writing and Nasha233 for your loooove and incredible support in what I'm doing. Also wanna send a shoutout to LoveEpicLove for being here for me, even in the midst of having another baby!**

**Ok, this chapter lacks of Damon, but needed for the story ahead...**

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><p>After a long and frustrating night with not near enough sleep, one that she'd really need for a day at the Lockwood's with her family, Elena woke up, bleary eyed and with an aching head.<p>

She drank her coffee in silence, barely acknowledging her mother fidgeting around her. Mayor Lockwood's wife, Carol Lockwood, had the uncanny ability to make even the most self-assured person nervous, and Miranda Gilbert was no exception.

Elena's father was unusually grumpy this morning, probably due to the fact that Miranda had made sure he couldn't get out from attending the auction. There had been a time when Grayson Gilbert and Richard Lockwood had been best friends at high school, both of them popular athletes, who'd been fighting for attention both on and off field, especially in regards to the most popular girl at school – Miranda Sommers.

Grayson had won the fight, and Richard had never truly forgiven him for it.

Nowadays, Grayson was a mild mannered doctor and most of the time he'd stay out of Richard's way. Today was one of the days he tried to. But Miranda was relentless. If she had to go, so did her husband. Why should she have to suffer something that was necessary for the community, and not him? It wasn't called 'in good times, and in bad' for nothing. That was her motto in life, especially in situations like these. Usually this sort of bickering made Elena smile, but not today.

Elena got ready quickly, showering in under ten minutes, using her new vanilla scented shampoo and conditioner, glad that she'd used the gift certificate her aunt Jenna had given her to get a well needed hot wax and Brazilian the previous week. If her Mom ever were to find out, she'd give Jenna an earful for sure. Not that Elena thought Miranda even knew what a Brazilian even was, but she wasn't about to find out either.

She put on a light yellow sundress with small patterns of flowers in turquoise and fuchsia pink and a piqued bandeau top. Then she combed her hair into a high ponytail. She was just finishing off with some cherry lip-gloss when she heard Caroline honking the horn outside. Elena glanced at the time, for once Caroline was on time, thank god. Elena just wanted this day to be over and done with.

'I'm leaving, see you there', she shouted towards the kitchen as she bounded down the stairs, bag in hand and sunglasses perched on her head. She could see her Mom stick her head around the corner with a look of surprise, but she ignored it. She was not in the mood to hang out with her Mom longer than necessary.

Flopping onto the passenger seat, Caroline grinned at her. Bonnie was seated in the back, handing Elena a steaming take away cup.

'Almond latte, extra foam,' she smiled at Elena.

Elena felt a sudden surge of relief.

'Thank god for you guys,' she breathed and inhaled the mouthwatering scent of the sweet coffee in her hand.

She didn't notice the looks that passed between her friends, neither would she have cared, if she had. She was just happy seeing some friendly faces.

They spent most of the morning setting up stalls and putting the items up for charity in their designated areas. Elena saw Tyler Lockwood and Matt Donovan helping to put out chairs in the ball room, with Vicky Donovan prancing around them, looking like the cat that ate the canary.

Elena turned around and noticed Zach Salvatore standing on the porch, flanked by a tall person with dark hair and a dark jacket. She could only see the back of his head, but her heart skipped a beat. She stood frozen in place for a few seconds, until he turned around as Carol Lockwood invited them into the house. Her heart sank. It wasn't Damon.

Mayor Lockwood walked up to them and put his hand on Zach Salvatore's shoulder.

'Let's step into my office for a minute, Zach. I have some matters I wanted to discuss with you. I'm sure Carol will find something to keep your nephew occupied with until we get back.' Richard Lockwood nodded towards the young man and Carol smiled widely at him.

'I'll show you to my son and his friends, Stefan. They'll be able to help you out, and it'll be nice for you to meet people your own age.' Carol barely noticed when Stefan froze as his gaze fell on Elena.

Elena breath caught. The strange boy was staring at her as if he'd seen a ghost, and the disgust that slowly rose in his features was palpable even at a distance, before he quickly averted his eyes and trailed after Mrs. Lockwood.

Elena felt a cold chill run up her spine. She was just about to ask her friends if they'd noticed his reaction too, when she took a look at the goofy expression plastered over Caroline's face.

'Did you see that cute guy?' Caroline asked, breathless. 'I wonder if he's the new guy I've heard is starting school with us next fall.'

She gave Bonnie and Elena in incredulous look.

'What? I hear things.' She exclaimed, by way of explanation. Bonnie and Elena started laughing and Caroline looked at them with raised brows.

'What? I really do.' she peeped as Bonnie started walking towards one of the function rooms filled with extra chairs, to bring them outside for the fashion show held by the sophomores. Caroline caught up with her. 'But he's really fit, isn't he?' Elena heard her say, as she turned around to follow Stefan with her gaze.

Elena tried her hardest to shake the strange feeling that Stefan Salvatore really didn't like her, but she wasn't quite successful. Every time their eyes met, the cold stare he gave her was enough to make her heart stutter uncomfortably.

It wasn't until later that afternoon that Elena got a chance to have a closer look at the brother that Damon was so reluctant to talk her about. She could feel his eyes on her as they all made their way to the outside seating area in the huge garden surrounding the estate. They were having a late lunch provided by The Lockwood's as a thank you for helping them out with the auction. The auction itself was part of a tradition to save money for the town bonfire that was held every October.

Elena glanced over sideways at Stefan as he was filling his plate with a small selection of snacks. She felt her ponytail tickle the back of her neck and the rapid beating of her pulse thrumming in her ears. As he looked her way she gave him a timid smile before quickly turning away from him again. She didn't want to give him the chance to glare at her again. She couldn't understand why he seemed to dislike her, she was usually one of the most popular for new kids to get to know, so she felt really confused by him. But also, she wanted him to like her because of Damon. Which was quite ridiculous, to be honest, since she, as of yesterday, hated Damon's guts. The anger flared up inside of her again. Stupid Damon Salvatore, messing with her head. Using her and then leaving her, all exposed and vulnerable. No one treated Elena Gilbert like that. Not even really hot, strangers like Damon Salvatore.

Speaking of strangers…

Elena tilted her head to the side and checked out Damon's brother again. Then she extended her hand to him.

'Hi, you're Stefan Salvatore, right? Zach's nephew?' Stefan looked down at her hand and hesitated for the shortest of seconds before he took it and nodded once. Elena pretended that she didn't notice. Instead she flashed him her most brilliant smile, the one that made judges at cheerleader competitions give her team an few extra points and boys fall all over themselves to date her. Stefan looked equally taken aback by her.

'I'm Elena Gilbert. Welcome to Mystic Falls.'

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><p>Stefan Salvatore was trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle that was Elena Gilbert in all the right places. What the hell was going on? The girl had a pulse; he could see it hammering away at the base of her throat. She was alive and human. But the fact remained; she looked exactly like Katherine Pierce, it was uncanny. Just as young, supple and beautiful. Maybe just a hint of innocence that Katherine lacked, but that he, once upon a lifetime ago, hadn't noticed. Until it was too late.<p>

Elena Gilbert's hand felt small and warm in his, and not until he let it go, did he fully register her surname.

'Are you related to the Gilbert's, one of the founding families here in Mystic Falls?'

Her eyes sparkled as she said yes, and his stomach clenched. There was a hint of vanilla surrounding her and all of a sudden he felt an urge to touch her again, just to make sure she wasn't just a figment of his imagination. Being here, in the Lockwood mansion, brought back too many memories. Memories he'd hidden from for decades.

And looking at Elena now, he could still smell the scented roses that had been strategically placed around the ball room. He could still hear the music from the string quartet, playing a soft waltz, while he'd held Katherine in his arms. The lingering scent of cigars from the study, where his father had retreated together with Jonathan Gilbert and Thomas Fell.

Stefan closed his eyes for a moment to get back to the here and now. And was startled by Elena's friend, Caroline, nestling her way in between him and Elena, walking him to a nearby table. She gave him the third degree, one that he hadn't had the displeasure to sit through, ever since him and Lexi, his best friend and partner in crime for the last decades, had scaled the fence to Woodstock in '69 and gotten caught, only because they'd been too high to function properly.

That's how Caroline made him feel right now, sitting next to him, her arm looped through his, talking excessively about everything and nothing. He smiled at her and answered as many questions about himself as he possibly could without sounding too elusive. He knew that Uncle Zach wasn't too thrilled about having him around. And even less so, that Damon was here.

_Damon._

The thought of his brother had him searching for Elena again. If Damon was to find out about Elena, there was no telling what could happen. Adrenaline started surging his body. She needed to be protected. Damon was errant at his best and volatile and murderous at his worst. And add to the fact that he was also an arrogant prick did nothing to help matters further.

Stefan excused himself from Caroline after a few more prodding questions and ignored the disappointed look on her face as he walked across the yard to the other teenagers hanging around a stall of old records. He started looking through some of them absentmindedly, when he could smell her again. He glanced around and she was standing behind him. He turned and faced her. A small smile was barely touching her lips, and he knew why. He wasn't proud of his initial reaction to her, but he'd been caught off guard. He was adamant to try to make her forget about his behavior as quickly as possible.

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><p>Elena didn't really know what to say to Stefan as she'd walked up to him. But as his face lit up as he saw her, she found herself smiling broadly at him, and he smiled back. It was genuine and warm and it filled her with renewed confidence. Maybe she'd just imagined his earlier behavior. Maybe she'd just transferred her anger at his brother to him.<p>

She found herself enjoying his company and attention, in a way she didn't enjoy Damon's. It was different, more open and friendly. As she listened to him talking about how Matt and Tyler wanted him go with them to Mystic Grill later for a game of pool, she realized that even if she enjoyed Stefan's company, she missed Damon's wit and certain way to literally sweep her off her feet.

But Stefan was as tight lipped about his brother that Damon had been. When Elena tried to pry into his private life, Stefan closed up and started talking about starting school next semester and maybe she could help him find his way around, since he'd been in Italy for so long, he'd forgotten all about the American school system. She was wondering what could be so much different, but his emerald green eyes caught her off guard and she forgot all about asking. They were burning intensely into her own eyes and it confused her.

She knew that Damon was a passionate person, she should have figured out; so was his brother. The largest difference between the two would probably be patience. Where Damon had none, Stefan had a bucket full, which he showed to perfection each time Caroline brushed past him in the most obvious come on Elena had seen from her blonde friend to this day.

The third time Caroline walked up to them, she stopped and grinned broadly at Stefan, before turning to Elena.

'I was telling Stefan earlier about the football team and how he should hang out with us, and Tyler and Matt.' Caroline turned back to Stefan, her hair bobbing gently around her fine features. 'Since you used to play football before, I'm sure Mr. Tanner would love to have you on the team. And so would we, wouldn't we, Elena?'

Caroline raised a brow to Elena who nodded.

'Absolutely,' said Elena. 'I didn't even know you played football.'

Caroline laughed out loud.

'There you go, Elena, not paying enough attention to him. I found that out before lunch, didn't I Stefan?'

Stefan looked mildly entertained, but nodded.

'Have you heard about the party on Saturday? It's over at the old cemetery, you know where it is?' Caroline asked him.

Stefan nodded yes, and turned to Elena.

'Are you going to be there?'

Elena was startled by his question and out of the corner of her eye; she could see Caroline's eyes narrow slightly.

'Of course, she'll be there,' said Caroline, with just a tiny hint of annoyance coloring her voice. 'She's probably gonna go with her new boyfriend, Damon. Isn't he your brother, by the way?'

Stefan flinched. He stared at Caroline before letting his eyes shift towards Elena.

'You're the girl that my brother...?' He stopped himself with a short headshake. Elena could see his jaw work overtime as his eyes flickered towards the ground.

'I should go. It was really nice to meet you.' He stalked off towards the house before any of them could utter a single word. Then all of a sudden it was as if life came back to Caroline again, and she ran in after him.

'Stefan.' Elena heard her call before she disappeared inside.

'What was that all about?' Bonnie asked as she walked up to her. 'He looked like he'd seen a ghost. That's weird.'

Elena was still staring after Caroline, lost in thought.

'I don't know,' she said after a minute or two. 'I really don't know, Bonnie.'

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><p><strong>I haven't got to all of the reviews yet, but I promise that I will... I haven't forgotten about you! I'm just so thrilled that you like what I write enough to WANT to review :) For that I thank you :)<strong>

**Remember; reviews equals love.**


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: I wish to apologize to everyone that's been waiting for an update of this fic. Life has been getting in the way. Also, vidding life has been getting in the way _

_A humongous thank you is due to the fantastic aj81writing for being my Beta, but also for lending me her wonderful words, and Damon's snarky comments when I am lost in front of an empty document… What would I do without you?_

_Without further ado… Chapter 5_

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><p>Damon could almost hear Stefan's brain kicking into overdrive as he saw him bounding inside the boarding house, and he smirked as he finished his drink. He turned towards the doorway just as Stefan entered.<p>

'What's wrong, brother?' he asked coyly and sauntered over to the wet bar.

Stefan wasn't buying his nonchalance. He stalked right up to Damon and slapped the glass out of his hand.

'Don't, Damon'. Stefan literally spat out his name. 'Don't pretend as if nothing's wrong.'

Stefan's eyes were on fire as he grabbed Damon by his shirt and pushed him against one of the walls, with a cracking noise coming from the wooden panels.

'I guess that means that you've met Elena.' Damon's eyes glittered with amusement at his brother's obvious resentment.

'Is this some sort of game to you? She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement.'

'Sure she does,' Damon challenged, letting his gaze slide over Stefan's furrowed brows and decided that enough was enough.

He seized Stefan's hand and spun him around, so now it was Stefan facing the wall, his right arm in an uncomfortable angle pressed against his back. Damon shoved himself harder against his brother, making a point in standing as close to him as possible, so that Stefan would understand, that there was nothing he could put up against him even if he tried. He was weak, living on animal blood; none of his senses were as accurate or as powerful as Damon's.

'I wouldn't try that again, brother.' Damon whispered in Stefan's ear. Stefan closed his eyes in defeat. 'As for Elena, I'm not playing any games. She's mine.' He emphasized the last word.

Damon kept his grip on Stefan for a while longer, before he let go, pushing Stefan against the wall one last time.

As if nothing had happened, he made himself a new drink and sat down in one of the oversized armchairs and watched Stefan trying to compose himself.

'You know, Stefan, things would be so much better if you'd just let me do what I do. Even if I _am_ here just to annoy you.' Damon smirked at Stefan, who was staring at him with an incredulous look on his face. 'I mean, I did promise you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word.'

'Just stay away from Elena, please Damon.'

Damon was just about to answer Stefan back as his cell rang. A callous smile crossed his face as he read the name on the illuminated screen.

'Speak of the devil', he said. 'You have to excuse me, dear brother; I have to take this call.'

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><p>Elena knew she was making a bad decision, calling Damon. But there had been something about him, no, something about his <em>brother<em>, which had made her pick up the phone and dial his number. She couldn't put her finger on it, but maybe it had been Stefan's eyes as he'd reluctantly spoken about Damon. A sort of reminiscing about old days… She couldn't tell, and now, as she was nervously biting her right thumbnail, she knew that she was probably going to regret calling him later, but the stubborn streak in her just couldn't help it.

She held her breath as she heard him pick up, and she subconsciously wiped her hand against the side of her leg before she drew a deep breath as she heard his voice on the other side of the line.

'Well, well, looks like someone's ready for round two,' he drawled and Elena could practically hear him smirking. She was glad he couldn't see her blush, thinking back to what had happened the last time they met. But she wasn't called Elena Gilbert for nothing; there wasn't a chance in hell she was going to back down now. She stiffened her neck and pulled her chin out.

'There's a party by the old cemetery on Saturday. Wanna come?' she chimed in one single breath. He had this way of making her feel like a child and she was going to prove to him that she wasn't.

'I'd love to,' he said silkily, 'but I didn't peg you as someone who wanted an audience…'

Elena let out a breath of annoyance. He was such an ass. But if he could be bold, so could she.

'I'm always up for trying new things,' she said in the most grown-up, worldly voice she could muster. 'But you're the one who suggested a date. So how 'bout it, _stud_?' she said, copying a line from one of her favorite movies.

She could hear him chuckle softly.

'I'll pick you up at seven' he said, before he hung up.

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><p>Damon didn't like tardiness in others so he was always on time himself. He checked his cuffs and ran his fingers through his hair before ringing the doorbell to the Gilbert's house. Taking a step back as the door opened he plastered a smile on his face he knew was appropriate for parents of any kind. What he didn't take into account was how he'd feel looking the exact replica of Jonathan Gilbert in the eye as Elena's father, Grayson, smiled back at him.<p>

He saw before him Jonathan Gilbert, rounding up the Mystic Falls vampires to a certain death by fire in 1864. He could still hear Katherine's low moans of pain as she lay on the ground, bound and gagged, while he and his brother desperately tried to free her. He could still feel the burning sensation of the gun shot as the bullet lodged itself in his chest and then; the black nothingness of death.

Damon felt himself stiffen as Grayson's smile slowly vanished taking in Damon's features, and his shoulders tensed. Damon felt his insides go cold as realization hit Grayson. His whole posture screamed out; warning vampire, Damon could see it. He could smell the fear emanating from Elena's father's pores, just as Elena came bounding down the stairs.

Damon saw Grayson's arm twitch towards her as she reached the doorway, carelessly kissing her father's cheek, but as he looked over at Damon staring at him, he stopped himself and tried to smile. It was a weak smile, a smile of someone knowing there is no use putting up a fight.

'I see you've met Damon,' Elena smiled as she linked her arm through Damon's. 'He's Zach Salvatore's nephew.'

'Pleased to meet you, Mr. Gilbert', Damon purred and extended his hand to the older man. Grayson looked at Damon's outstretched arm with a look of despair before he warily took the vampire's hand in his.

Damon gripped him firmly by the elbow, making sure he stepped inside of the doorway leaning over Grayson Gilbert, pointing to the fact that he'd already been invited in.

Out of the corner of his eye, Damon could see that Elena was looking at her father expectantly. Grayson Gilbert cleared his throat and met Damon's eyes squarely for the first time.

'I trust you'll bring my daughter back in one piece,' Grayson said, his voice only slightly wavering. 'And that you won't keep her out too late, she's still only sixteen.'

'Dad!' Elena exclaimed, but Damon could hear the sense of pride she held for her father by the tone of her voice. This was a speech he held every time his daughter had a date− that much was obvious. She turned to Damon, and started pulling him with her towards his car. 'Let's go, my Dad's always like this when I go out, don't listen to him.'

Damon looked back and inclined his head towards Grayson, who was standing in the middle of the doorway, ashen faced and perfectly still.

'Trust me, I won't', he smiled and showed a perfect set of teeth, before turning to Elena and pulling her close to him. 'I don't really listen to warnings.' Elena giggled and kissed him on the cheek, much in the same way she'd just kissed her father. But the way she let her lips linger close to his, told him that the gesture meant something entirely different indeed this time.

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><p>The party was in full swing as they arrived in Damon's metallic blue Chevy. Elena proudly waited until he opened the passenger door and helped her out of the car. She was the queen bee of Mystic Falls High, and everyone was openly staring at her and the dark stranger by her side.<p>

Teenagers were scattered around the cleared area, with lit fires and kegs standing on fragile looking tables, red plastic cups stacked next to the kegs. Elena grabbed Damon's hand and dragged him towards one of the kegs where she filled two cups with lukewarm beer before handing him one of them. Damon sipped it carefully, before he handed it over with a scowl to some pimply-faced boy, who looked at him in awe. Damon frowned and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Damon sensed Stefan before he saw him. He turned around and met his brother's judging eyes from across the campfire. Elena followed his gaze.

'That's your brother, right? Stefan?'

Damon pulled his gaze from Stefan and looked down at Elena.

'Yes. How did you know?' he answered, pretending he didn't know about their meeting a few days before.

Elena's eyes flickered towards him then towards the flames licking the twigs and branches that made the fire, where some girls were standing roasting marshmallows on long thin sticks. She sipped her cup before answering him, as if she was hiding something from him. Damon glared over at Stefan who smiled at him serenely with his arms crossed over his chest. A small throbbing started behind Damon's eyes.

Even if Damon knew they'd met previously, it felt hard to swallow all of a sudden.

'I met him a few days ago. He was at the Lockwood mansion together with your uncle for the auction. We just talked for a short while…' she stopped and looked up at him. 'What's the deal with you and Stefan anyway?'

Just hearing his brother's name come out of her mouth felt wrong. Damon hid a sneer with a smile.

'You shouldn't worry your pretty little head with that.' He ignored Elena's eyes that flashed angrily at his words. 'Stefan and I, why we don't get along, goes way back. There's nothing you can do about it, so just leave it, and him, alone.'

Damon's words were final, Elena noticed. As if that would be the end of that discussion. She thought otherwise, but she didn't pry any further, having a feeling it would only antagonize Damon. She downed the last of her beer before reaching into her bag and pulling with her a dark green glass bottle.

'Raided my Dad's liquor cabinet', Elena said cheekily. 'Want some?'

Damon glanced down at the bottle and a genuine smile relaxed his features, somehow accentuating the sharp planes of his face. His eyes glowed in the dim light of the campfire in the middle of the cleared area, as he looked at her.

'Glen Fiddich? Really, Elena?' He laughed softly. 'I thought you didn't like whiskey straight.'

Elena smiled cunningly.

'Well, I raided the fridge as well.' She handed him the bottle and pulled out a can of Coke. 'Ta-da.'

'I'm thinking that you're one crazy chick, mixing good whiskey with that shit, but I never said I didn't like a little bit of crazy.'

Elena knew she was probably going to get caught taking that whiskey from her Dad. But looking at Damon's face right now was totally worth it. He leaned down and let his lips brush against hers, and his warm breath made a shiver slide down her spine, but in a really good way. Her lips parted in response and he deepened the kiss as he set down the bottle on the rickety table next to them. He then proceeded to take the can out of her hand and placed it next to the whiskey bottle, without breaking the kiss.

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><p>'Mmm,' Damon moaned against Elena's jaw as he was trailing a band of kisses towards her neck. 'You sure you wanna stay around? We could go back to mine for a while…'<p>

He felt Elena smile.

'No, Damon. We should stay here, I promised Bonnie.'

_Screw_ _Bonnie_, Damon thought when his eyes fell on Stefan again. He let his tongue trace the delicate veins along her neck and he could see his brother visibly stiffen. Damon smiled as he bit down just hard enough for Elena to try to pull away. Stefan drew an unnecessary breath and the muscles in his jaw worked over time.

'Ouch.' Elena pulled away and smacked his shoulder playfully. 'Why are you always nibbling on me?'

Damon's gaze was still on Stefan as he answered.

'Because you're absolutely mouthwatering.'

'Elena!'

Elena turned towards Caroline's voice and smiled at her friend, running over to the couple and hugging her. Caroline turned to Damon with a wicked smile, who was trying really hard not to show his annoyance at the blonde girl interrupting them.

'So this− is Damon.' She said, letting her eyes roam freely over him. 'You're quite the mystery, you know. So you're the guy who's managed to drag the boring out of Elena. Good for you.'

Damon gave her a cocky smile.

'And you− must be Caroline.'

Caroline's smile widened and she threw her hair over her shoulder.

'I see my reputation has proceeded me', she said.

'Well, that and the fact Elena has told me about your inability to hold your tongue.'

Caroline turned her wounded eyes towards Elena.

'Did you really say that?' Elena stared at her, shocked, and started shaking her head, when Damon answered for her.

'Not in so many words, Goldielocks, but there wasn't really any need. You just proved it to me yourself.'

'Damon.' Elena looked up at him. 'Stop it. That's really not necessary.'

Damon turned to her in mock surprise.

'Why? It's not like she doesn't need someone telling her. She should know when to speak and when to shut up.' He picked up the can of Coke and put it in his jacket pocket, then proceeded to grab Elena's arm as he grasped the whiskey bottle and stalked away from Caroline. Elena gave Caroline an apologetic smile but walked off with Damon.

As they got a bit further away from everyone, she pulled her arm from his grip.

'What was that about, Damon? Why are you being awful to Caroline, what did she ever do to you?' Her eyes were dark with anger. 'You should go apologize to her right now.'

Damon looked at her incredulously, but then his features softened.

'I'm sorry, you're right. Even if she's into gossiping and I'm quite a private person, I shouldn't take my own issues out on her. I'll go talk to her right now.'

Elena nodded with a frown. Whatever issues he had, the way he treated Caroline, Elena wasn't thrilled about it at all. Especially not how he made it sound as if she had been talking about Caroline behind her back. As soon as there was time for it, she would let Damon explain himself.

Damon walked over to Caroline where she stood talking to some friends. At first it was clear that she didn't want to walk off with him, but after a look at Elena, who gave her a small smile, Caroline relented.

Elena concentrated, trying to hear them, but Damon was talking in a low voice and the loud music from another corner of the clearing was drowning out most of the conversations around them. Elena saw Caroline's features relax and she nodded as Damon was talking. He put a hand on Caroline's shoulder and she kind of leaned in towards him and smiled. Caroline almost looked dazed, but Elena thought it must be a trick of the shadows cast by the small fire to the left of them.

Damon smiled as he strolled back over to her, and Elena smiled back.

'See, that wasn't so bad, was it? Caroline's just… Caroline. She means no harm, really. She's a gossip and a bit ditzy, but she's my friend, Damon.'

'I know. I'm sorry.' He rubbed her arms with his hands and then leaned closer to her. 'Forgive me?

Damon gave her a pout that Elena couldn't resist kissing.

'Ok. But you have to promise me, no more having a go at my friends for being curious about you. Swear?'

Damon nibbled at her lower lip. 'For you, I'll pinky swear.'

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><p>Damon couldn't resist touching her, kissing her. Her scent was pulling him in and binding him to her. Elena was leaning against an old oak tree, her short jean skirt invitingly showing off her shapely young legs. He was bent over her and she smelled of whiskey and Coke mixed with that heady scent of blood and perfume.<p>

He was lost in the darkness of her eyes, and for a moment he couldn't remember why he'd ever thought she was anything like Katherine. She wasn't, not a single bit like Katherine. And as he once again breathed her in, while touching the soft outside of her thighs with his hands, he was swept away by the thought of leaving Katherine where she was and keeping Elena instead.

In an instant he stood straight back up so fast, Elena nearly toppled over.

'What's wrong?' she asked and put her hands on his chest. He drew a few shallow breaths before grabbing her hands and pushing her away from him.

'Nothing, I… I need to breathe, is all.'

There was hurt shining out of her eyes like a beacon trying to reel him in again and he couldn't look at her so he turned away. What was he thinking? He'd been waiting for 145 years to get to Katherine. 145 years of yearning for her, and now, this meager copy of her, was twisting his thoughts, trying to make him forget the only reason he was back in this godforsaken town in the first place. He looked around, to help him focus again, and his eyes landed on Stefan. He was standing with Caroline, the blonde practically hanging from his arm. But Stefan wasn't looking at her− he wasn't even looking at Damon. His gaze was solely on Elena, so affectionate, could he caress her with his mere sight, he would have.

_She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement._

_Puppet my ass_, he thought as he re-called Stefan's words. _Elena is whatever I want her to be_. He turned to her and leaned closer to her, as if to whisper something to her. Elena craned her neck to be able to hear him better. Her chest was grazing his as her breath hitched when his body forced her back against the rough texture of the tree.

Damon glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Stefan was still watching as his face changed and his fangs elongated, nearly breaking through his bottom lip. With a devilish smile he turned back to Elena and bit down.

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><p><em>Next update will come sooner than you think... At least it won't be three months til the next one. I promise.<em>

_The line taken from Grease is all aj82writing, among others. Her Damon is uncanny, and vital to this story. Thank you!_

_Reviews equals love..._


	6. Chapter 6

_Wow… Another update. I know, it's just less than a miracle. Haha. This is all thanks to the amazing LokYa, who never gives up on me. Thanks for tweeting me into gear!_

_A/N: Damon in this story isn't the Damon we see in season 3 or late season 2, this is Damon pre-Elena, pre-trying to 'be the better man'. This Damon has lived for centuries taunting his brother, just because he feels like it. It's not likely going to change anytime soon in this story either...  
><em>

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><p>Damon glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Stefan was still watching as his face changed and his fangs elongated, nearly breaking through his bottom lip. With a devilish smile he turned back to Elena and bit down.<p>

Elena shrieked as she felt something sharp graze the skin on her neck, just as a shadow blurred past her and she was suddenly alone, Damon nowhere in sight. She looked around while covering the side of her neck, trying to minimize the stinging feeling with her hand. She could just about make out the shapes of Damon and Stefan, fighting each other further out among the trees. She carefully moved closer, but stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the sounds of snarling coming from the brothers. The headlights from an approaching car, coming from the other side of the small clearing, swept over them, and she could see a flash of red in Damon's eyes. He looked strange, it was as if his eyes were glowing. Her heart stopped and she inadvertently took a step back.

'What..?' she managed to say, before the snarling and fighting stopped, and they both turned to her in an almost predatory stance. They were unnaturally still; there was something animalistic about them both; gleaming red eyes and long incisors sticking out from under their top lips. Just like wolves, she found herself thinking.

Her gaze fell on Damon and he gave her an icily cold smile, and the blood drained from her face.

'Boo!' he whispered and she jumped in fear, and was just about to scream as Stefan was in front of her, his face back to normal and his hand covering her mouth.

'Elena', he said softly. 'Shh, don't scream, it's ok.'

He was looking at her intently and she felt a weird sort of calm descend on her. She nodded and he slowly released her.

'Let me have a look at your neck', he said and carefully removed her hand from the side of her throat. She looked down at her hand, which was covered in something dark and sticky.

'Blood', she whispered and felt a tiny trickle of panic push down her spine and she looked up at Stefan again, his green eyes cast in shadow.

'Don't be alarmed, Elena. You'll be fine' Stefan said soothingly and even if Elena knew she should be afraid, that she should fight and scream and panic, his soft voice made her feel warm and comforted.

There was a movement to her right and Damon came into sight. His hair was ruffled from the fight, and his normally beautiful face was contorted by pent up rage.

'You know what we have to do, Stefan. So just do it', Damon snarled at his brother, who was holding Elena's hand in his. 'Besides, your compulsion is weak, you're on a bunny diet, remember? So just do us both a favour and finish it.'

Elena looked at him, too stunned to speak, yet surprised that she still didn't fear for her life, even if she knew that Damon was talking about ending it.

Damon leaned closer to her, but was looking intently at his brother.

'She's a liability to us now, Stefan.' His voice like velvet. 'She'll talk and we'll be discovered…'

He was cut off by Stefan's fist, punching him so hard across the face; he landed a good few feet away from them. Stefan let Elena's hand go as he growled at Damon: 'No. You don't get to play God with her. She never asked for this. She never chose to know.'

Damon was back on his feet in seconds, the air literally moving around him, all the while Elena was thinking to herself; _Why aren't I frightened? Why don't I scream or run?_

Stefan got her attention again by saying her name, while keeping his hand against Damon's chest, to keep him away from her.

'Elena, look at me.' The green in his eyes sparkled, and Elena felt herself relax even more.

'Yes', she said, her voice docile and quiet.

'I want you to forget about what you've seen tonight. You were here with Damon, but he had to leave. There was a family emergency, so you stayed with your friends all night.'

Damon took a step closer, his voice on edge.

'What are you doing, Stefan? You know as well as I do, the only thing to do is to kill her. So do it.'

Stefan looked at him in disgust.

'I'm just saving us from complications. Uncle Zach was in a frenzy because Elena's father came over to the boarding house looking for vervain for his family. For Elena in particular.'

Elena looked between them with a detached curiosity. _Vervain? Uncle Zach and her father?_ There was something she was missing, but she didn't understand what.

Stefan continued as Damon was still quiet.

'If you kill Elena, we're as good as dead. Grayson Gilbert knows about us. He knows about _you_.'

Damon looked away, into the distance where a young couple was busy making out against a fallen tree trunk. He smiled ruefully.

'And you think I care, because…?'

Stefan sighed.

'Self-preservation, if nothing else.' What Stefan really wanted to ask, he kept to himself, knowing it would only serve as a catalyst to Damon's unpredictable persona. The question was; why hadn't Damon just finished Elena off himself? Stefan knew his brother never thought twice before getting rid of anyone posing a threat to him. Yet, here Elena still was; alive and in one piece.

Damon grimaced and nodded to Elena.

'Fine, do whatever you like with her.' He turned his back to them and picked up the, by now, half empty whiskey bottle from the ground, where Elena had dropped it earlier.

* * *

><p>Elena opened her eyes with a confused look on her face.<p>

'Stefan?' she said as her gaze focused on him.

'Hey', Stefan answered with a smile. 'Just thought I'd let you know, something's come up, so Damon had to leave and I have to go with him. Could you tell Caroline I'm sorry, she should be able to get a ride home with Bonnie.' Stefan's smile was broad and genuine. 'You go with them and you'll be safe.'

'There was a family emergency', Elena stated, wondering at the same time how she could know this information.

Elena looked over to where Bonnie and Caroline were sitting, perched on a fallen tree trunk. She looked back at Stefan, trying to see if Damon was behind him somewhere. But he was nowhere to be seen.

'Yes,' Stefan replied. 'Yes, there was a family emergency.'

'Oh, ok.' She said, feeling a bit empty. 'I hope everything's fine.'

Stefan nodded at her.

'It'll be all right. I'll see you soon, Elena.' He inclined his head and walked off, into the shadows leaving Elena standing there, not really knowing what to think. She had no recollection of when Stefan had showed up and Damon had left. And she was sure she hadn't drunk that much. She wasn't a light weight, like Bonnie. She glanced at her friends and back into the woods where Stefan had disappeared to, then turned and joined Caroline and Bonnie by the camp fire.

* * *

><p>'Don't tell me you haven't thought about what her blood would taste like, ever since you saw her? Don't tell me you haven't fantasized about her doe eyes and her soft skin against yours.' Damon pushed Stefan further out of sight from the group gathered by the old cemetery with every syllable. 'Don't tell me that Elena's not making you think about how good it would feel to just rip into her and feed on her until there isn't a single drop of blood left inside of her. I know I have.' Damon's eyes were glowing in the dark and Stefan felt a twinge of fear for the young girl with the warm eyes and kind smile.<p>

He had watched her from afar the past few days, and the more he saw of her, the more he realized that she was an amazing person. Nothing like her doppelganger, the selfish and shallow Katherine that he and his brother had fought over, for over a century ago.

Seeing her in his brother's arms had near enough suffocated him. And when Damon almost sunk his fangs into her neck, he'd been forced to do something about it. She wasn't just another one of Damon's playthings. There was something about her, something entirely good.

Damon turned Stefan around so they were both watching the young girls talking and laughing on the other side of the clearing.

'I mean, just look at her', he purred in Stefan's ear. 'Doesn't she just look good enough to eat?'

Stefan forced himself to look away. He hadn't so much as tasted human blood in over fifty years, and he wasn't about to start now. Especially not here and now, not around Damon. He felt his brother's spitefulness crash into him in waves of resentment, and he shook his head to rid himself of the smell of Elena's blood lingering in his nostrils.

'They're human beings, Damon', he said, more for his own benefit than Damon's.

'Yea, like that matters to us', Damon scoffed. 'We're vampires, in case you've forgotten, we don't care about humans. We eat them and then we leave.' Damon circled Stefan slowly, like a predator around his prey. 'Or have your strict dietary rules made you forget that's how we really live?'

'Just leave Elena out of it.' Stefan said quietly. 'You can't hurt her, so just leave her alone.'

'Fine, so I can't kill her, but I can still have fun with her.' Damon said, visibly unmoved by what Stefan had just told him.

'Doesn't it ever get old?' Stefan sighed. 'Compelling women to sleep with you?'

Damon threw his head back in mock laughter.

'You think I compelled Elena to get what I wanted?' he leaned in and whispered in Stefan's ear. 'She was practically gagging for it.' Stefan clenched his jaw at the thought of Elena anywhere near his brother, but said nothing.

Damon sauntered of towards his car, leaving Stefan staring at Elena smiling at Caroline and Bonnie, all three of them dancing and singing along to the music.

'You know, jealousy is such an ugly emotion.' Damon smirked at Stefan, before getting into his car and driving off.

* * *

><p>Walking out of her bathroom, dressed in her pyjama, which consisted of a dark blue cami and a pair of short shorts with various Disney characters scattered on them, she nearly had a heart attack as she saw a dark figure lying across her bed.<p>

She started and blinked, trying to get her breathing back to normal.

'Damon,' she exclaimed. 'What are you doing here?' She inadvertently glanced towards the door that led to the upstairs hallway, and most importantly, her parents' bedroom.

'Don't worry,' Damon smirked. 'I took the precaution to lock the door. Hope you don't mind.'

Elena shook her head and slowly sat down on the bed, suddenly aware of what she was wearing. She started picking at the quilt her grandmother had made for her, trying to hide her shorts behind it. Damon chuckled lightly and gave her a once over, making her blush.

'Cute PJ's.'

Elena scowled at him.

'Well, I wasn't really expecting anyone sneaking into my room like this.'

Damon sat up facing her, tracing her jaw line with his fingers. She shivered from his touch, and he smiled.

'I didn't think you'd mind, seeing as I had to leave you so suddenly.'

She looked up at him and met his eyes. They were deep azure blue with a darker ring around them. And they captivated her. His fingers reached her mouth and her lips parted almost without thought. Damon leaned in and gave her a soft kiss and she closed her eyes. She felt his hand winding around her hair and she slid her hands along his thighs, compelling a slow moan to escape his lips and his tongue demanded entry, deepening the kiss. He tasted different to anything she'd ever known, like how she'd imagined the wind against her face on a cold winter's morning; cool and crisp and delicious.

Elena gasped against his mouth as his other hand found her waist and pulled her closer to him. A wave of heat coursed through her body and she grabbed his shirt to get closer to him. In a moment of yearning, she pressed her hands against his stomach and pushed him back against the bed and placed herself on top of him. She opened her eyes and searched for his; they were darkened by his desire and the hard bulge beneath his jeans was rubbing against her core. Elena felt a surge of triumph race through her.

She proceeded to unbutton the shirt he was wearing as his hands caressed the sides of her legs to her waist. He slowly eased his way to the front of her top and Elena stopped what she was doing long enough for him to slide her camisole over her head.

Damon groaned and grabbed Elena's tiny waist and rubbed himself against her. Her pert little breasts were perfect− taut nipples practically begging him to take them into his mouth and taste them. But he kept perfectly still on his back, letting Elena finish taking his shirt off.

Her eyes greedily took him in and he was enjoying the moment. He knew he looked good; prominent chest, strong arms and a narrow waist, his low hung jeans showing off the dip under his hipbones that girls seemed to go crazy over. Elena wasn't an exception. She eagerly trailed her fingers along the muscles on his chest and the hard planes of his stomach.

Damon tried to sit up, but yet again she pushed him back, a naughty glint in her eye, so he indulged her, amused by the fact that the fire he'd seen in her that first night was slowly resurfacing. He could have very easily gotten the upper hand, but this was something new to him. She wasn't compelled− not by him at least, and if Stefan would have had his way, there was no way Elena would be straddling him semi naked as she were right at this moment. Concentrating on how to best annoy Stefan with this information, Damon successfully ignored that little voice in the back of his head whispering to him that this girl was doing more than just having her way with him right now. She was doing so much more, worming her way inside his head, breaking down the resistance he'd built up for centuries.

Instead, as she started planting soft kisses along his stomach, slowly tracing her way towards the waist of his jeans, fumbling with the buttons− he pretended that he was the one pushing her into this. That voice was soon drowned out by his moans as she took him in her mouth, her soft little mouth engulfing him, sucking greedily on him, making him grow large and pulsating.

Damon ground himself against her wet hot mouth, her tongue gliding up and down his cock. He was holding on to her hair with both his hands, mesmerized by her and the sheer beauty of her, doing such naughty things to him of her own free will.

Her own _free_ will.

Damon groaned even louder and Elena reached out to touch his lips with her fingers, a nervous smile on her lips.

'Shh,' she pleaded with him. Fuck, he'd forgotten her parents were around, but he couldn't let her stop now. Once again she slid his cock into her warm mouth, this time sucking down so hard he got goose bumps all over his body because it felt so damn good. One of her hands cupped him carefully and his breath caught.

'Mygod,' he moaned quietly and pushed himself further inside her mouth and back out again, while she gave his balls a careful massage. 'Harder.' His voice was husky from pent up desire as she complied.

Elena felt the power she held over him, just like Caroline had preached to her so many times. 'Go down on a guy and he's like putty in your hands', was her mantra, Caroline followed it religiously herself and it seemed to be working out really well for her. And now, glancing up at Damon, his eyes closed and his mouth slightly parted, she understood what Caroline had meant. She felt powerful and in absolute control.

She slid her tongue along his shaft, in a long lingering movement, swirling her tongue around the silky smooth tip of his cock before filling her mouth with all of him, instantly awarded by a tiny shudder from him.

Elena started to stroke his shaft in opposite direction from her moving mouth. At first she was slowly caressing him, gradually picking up pace, going faster and faster. Damon's silent moans came closer after one another, his body shaking slightly. He mumbled something she couldn't quite catch at first, but as she picked up the pace, his mumbling grew louder.

'Elena. Elena.' She heard from under his breath. Chills of excitement ran down her spine, she was doing this to him. _She_, Elena Gilbert was rendering the worldlier Damon Salvatore speechless. She kept up the pace, not slowing down and eventually she could feel small convulsions along his shaft, and she saw beads of sweat trickling down his temples and along his neck. His whole body stiffened and she sensed instinctively that this was it; this was what they'd been working up for. His hands snaked themselves into her hair, keeping her head still, but she kept stroking him hard and fast. His breathing was uncontrolled and his moans loud enough to freak her out a bit that Jeremy, or even worse, her parents would hear. He moved his hips fast against her, filling her mouth, making it hard for her to breathe.

All of a sudden, Damon's body jerked stiff and she felt warm liquid fill her mouth. Damon sighed deeply and his cock seemed to pulsate in her mouth. She swallowed, just as Caroline had instructed her to do. Elena wasn't overly thrilled by the taste, but the goofy look on Damon's face made her kind of enjoy it especially since it seemed to give him pleasure, and she wanted to please him, like he'd done for her before.

Damon pulled her up towards his chest, stroking her hair from her face, so gently, it made her blush.

'Where did you learn to do that?' he asked, hoarsely.

Elena casually shrugged her shoulders, as if to say it was no big deal. But his eyes demanded an explanation so she drew a shaky breath.

'I've never done it before.' She could feel her cheeks turn crimson. 'Gone down on a guy before, I mean.'

Damon made a sound, deep in his throat, making his chest vibrate against Elena's ear and she shivered with delight of being the one responsible for his obvious contentment.

'There's no way…' he said in a low voice, but stopped himself. He looked down at her and let himself surrender for a moment to the energy that crackled like fire between them, even now when he was sated and relaxed. This was usually his cue to leave, but he didn't want to. Elena's warm body against his felt right. And once again he touched on the subject that he hadn't compelled her to act like this. Elena had done this on her own accord, and he kind of liked it. His insides suddenly went cold. He shouldn't feel like this. He had to get out of here.

Damon moved out of the bed swiftly, leaving Elena once again feeling vulnerable and naked on her bed. She wasn't having it this time.

'Why do you always leave me?' she snapped, while quickly putting her camisole back on. 'Why can't you just stay around like a normal boyfriend would?'

Damon slowly turned to her, an unreadable look on his face. He was half dressed, with only a few buttons left to button on his shirt. Before he answered he straightened the collar out.

'Boyfriend? Oh honey, I think you're mistaking me for my brother. I don't play house. This is what you get with me, take it or leave it.' He looked down on her, his chin slightly raised as if to challenge her to take him on.

All of a sudden− afterwards she would try to figure out how this happened− he had her against the wall, her arms above her head and their bodies flush against each other. She felt him harden as he pressed himself closer to her, and his breath was hot against her neck.

'I like you', he whispered hoarsely. 'Don't ruin it.' He trained his eyes on hers and leaned in and kissed her roughly. Against her will, her body responded to his advances and she let him slip his tongue in between her lips. He let her go as suddenly as he had seized her and smirked down at her. There was a spark of triumph glittering in his eyes.

'I'll see you tomorrow, Elena.'

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><p><em>Remember; Reviews equals love…<em>


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Yea I've tried to write again and again, and then today, I found inspiration in some fantastic [SLASH]Dalaric fics made by duchessofdisaster. (If you would ever happen to read this; thank you. You sorted my writer's block right out!) _

_Also, as always a thanks to my trusted Beta. You know who you are :)_

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><p>Damon was staring into the unlit fireplace in the library. Stefan was nowhere to be seen, probably meeting up with Caroline, the blonde cheerleader, who seemed to follow him wherever he went. Not that Damon was complaining. With Blondie around, it gave Stefan less time to annoy him, which meant more time to figure out how to open that damn tomb. Not that Damon had had much time to think about the tomb opening− or Katherine for that matter− in a while.<p>

Trying to find different ways to get around Elena's parents was taking up most of his time. It was damn hard trying to cop a feel with Grayson Gilbert breathing down his neck. And that new ring Elena was sporting on her right hand was a tell-tale sign that there was no compelling her unless he forced the damn thing off her finger. But where was the fun in that?

Grayson had made it abundantly clear that if Damon so much as breathed Elena's name, he would 'out' him to everyone and since Mystic Falls was once a haven for supernaturals, there were many in this town who knew that strange beings like for example, vampires, might exist. Damon never took to threats easily. Ever. When Grayson had dared utter those few words, he had made an enemy in Damon. And the only reason Elena's father was still alive, was the fact that he was Elena's father. And Damon wanted to get in her pants, which meant, Daddy Dearest had to stay alive.

Damon never forgot, he never forgave. He just got even. So for the last month or so he'd started to prod into Grayson Gilbert's past. There was nothing out of the ordinary, the guy was squeaky clean, not even a ticket for speeding. And nothing on Elena's mother, Miranda, either.

He'd only started looking into Elena's past because he was bored. Damon never thought he'd find anything interesting in a 16-year-old's past, but boy did he get it once he'd looked hard enough.

So, as fun as sneaking around with Elena had been, it was time to move it up a notch. He'd been sitting here for the last hour contemplating how to go about it. It was just too easy; it all had to do with Elena. He'd hit Gilbert where it hurt the most− in the heart of his family.

He downed his drink and got up to grab his leather jacket that was flung over the back of one of the oversized armchairs, and headed for his car.

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><p>'I don't understand why I'm not allowed to see Damon. You haven't given me a valid reason.' Elena was tired and frustrated from having the same argument with her parents, but she wasn't going to give up that easily. She was standing in the middle of her parents' bedroom, hands on her hips and a grim expression on her face, watching her mother pinning her hair up.<p>

Her mother sighed and met her eyes in the mirror.

'Elena, we've given you all sorts of reasons, but you just won't listen.'

'What, that he's older than me? Ugh. Damon's not a lot older than Dad was when he met you, and you were my age. That cancels that reason.'

'Times were different then, honey. Damon is...' Miranda's voice trailed away. 'He's just too mature for you, that's all we're saying. From what I've heard he's lived a hard life, and it wouldn't be fair to put all of that on you.'

Elena nearly stomped her foot in frustration.

'Are you even listening to yourself, Mom? Shouldn't the fact that he's lived a hard life make us a bit more humble towards him? His parents died when he was young, he doesn't get along with his brother, and by the looks of it, his uncle isn't too keen on having him around either. But I am.' Elena's voice turned pleading. 'He's a good person. He's just misunderstood, that's all. If you just take the time to get to know him...'

Miranda interrupted her.

'Your father wouldn't approve, and I'm sorry but I agree with him. If Damon would have been younger, or you older, then maybe we'd be ok with it. But, that's not the way things are and you're just going to have to accept our decision.'

'Your decision?' Elena shouted. 'What about my decision?'

She turned around and ran out of the room and slammed the door to her room behind her. Tears of frustration were threatening to spill over, but she angrily wiped them away and searched for her cell.

_Need to get out of here. Wanna meet?_

The phone in her hand beeped in reply in less than a minute.

_Not a prob. Already on my way._

Elena's heart started racing, as it always did at the thought of Damon. She scurried over to the closet to change out of her saggy tracksuit bottoms and old tee, to a pair of skinny jeans and a purple tank top. She'd never be Caroline, with her high heels and short skirts, but even if she knew that Damon seemed to like her just as she was, old trackies might be taking it a step too far.

She had just started going through her hair with a straightener for a quick refresh as she heard the doorbell. She swore beneath her breath. That couldn't be Damon? He knew that she wasn't allowed to see him, and he must have seen her father's car in the driveway. As she hung the straightener over the door knob to the bathroom adjoining her room to Jeremy's she heard her father answering the door.

'Shit, shit, shit', she whispered as she tried to get her Converse back on while trying to find her purse. She accidentally knocked over a small flower pot that stood next to a photo of her, Caroline and Bonnie taken at cheer camp two years earlier. This meant she had to clean up quickly with the hand vacuum, stationed on the wall just outside her bedroom, before getting her jacket and smoothing down stray strands of hair. She could hear her father talking to Damon and her brain was working on overdrive. What was Damon doing?

* * *

><p>'You see, I'm not so sure you wanna keep Elena from seeing me,' Damon said, his voice smooth as silk. He made Grayson take a step back as he walked over the threshold to the Gilbert house and looked around, feigning innocence.<p>

'This is my daughter we're talking about.' Grayson's normally soft features were contorted into a scowl.

'But is she really?' Damon raised his eyebrow in a knowing look. Grayson Gilbert took another step back, and his head started shaking slightly.

'I don't know what you mean, of course she is.'

Damon smiled sympathetically.

'See, I used to know this girl, we go _way_ back. And she looks a lot like your daughter.' Damon closed in on Grayson, Damon's breath on his ear sending shivers down Grayson's spine. 'In fact, she looks so much like Elena they could practically be twins.'

Damon took a quick step back and walked in a small circle around Grayson, who was standing perfectly still, afraid to move, even to breathe. He could feel the cool of the ring on the skin of his middle finger, handed down to him for generations. He could feel the trickle of sweat beading its way down from his neck under his shirt. He could hear his heart pounding relentlessly in his ears. But most of all, he could hear Elena's footsteps bounding down the stairs, and he knew, that he had to let her go once again to that beast. That devil.

He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again, there she was− the sweetest and purest he'd ever seen. His daughter. He tried to smile as her eyes shifted from Damon, who was coming to stand next to her, onto his face.

'What's going on?' she asked, tentatively. She looked at Damon again, as if he was the one with all of the answers. Grayson's mouth opened but closed again. When had that changed? Since when wasn't she looking to him for guidance anymore? And how could he tell her, his innocent and beautiful daughter, that she could see Damon when his whole being was screaming at him to take her away from that exact danger?

Damon looked over at Grayson, licking his lips slowly before turning to Elena.

'Your father just told me that he feels he's made a mistake in not letting us see each other. He called me over here to tell me that in person, so when you sent me your text,' he looked at Grayson again as if to say to him; look at your daughter, she's been defying you all along. 'I was already on my way over here.'

The relief on Elena's face was apparent as she flung herself into her father's arms.

'Dad, thank you.'

Grayson hugged his daughter tightly, refusing to meet Damon's gaze. Instead he closed his eyes and inhaled her sweet scent, bringing back memories of Sunday afternoons on the porch swing, eating ice cream and telling silly jokes. He could feel her pulling back, but he only let go when he heard Miranda coming in from the back.

'What's going on…' her voice trailed off as she saw Damon standing next to Elena. Elena gripped Damon's hand and squeezed it.

Miranda's eyes flickered from their intertwined hands to Damon and back to Grayson.

'I'll explain later, Miranda.' Grayson said, feeling tired all of a sudden. He turned to Elena.

'Be careful and remember that I'm always here if you need me.'

Elena smiled at her father's words.

'I will, and I know I've got a curfew, since it's a school night. I'll make sure Damon remembers.' She smiled up at the vampire standing still next to her, his icy blue stare burning its way into the very soul of Grayson.

'You take care of my girl, you hear?' He emphasized every word.

Damon smiled and inclined his head.

'Yes, sir.' He said reverently before ducking out, Elena in tow.

When the door closed shut, Grayson felt himself sag and he had to sit down on the stairs leading to the bedrooms upstairs.

Looking up at Miranda, desperation was written all over his features.

'He knows. The vampire knows.' He whispered.

* * *

><p>They were sitting in his car just on the outskirts of town close to the boarding house. Elena was straddling him, planting wet kisses along his neck and her fingers were nestled in his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back while lazily stroking her jean clad thighs, enjoying her hot mouth against his skin.<p>

'I can't believe Dad just changed his mind like that.' Elena mumbled between kisses and Damon strangled a sigh. Way to kill the mood, talking about her old man. Damon lifted his hand to the back of Elena's neck and wound her hair around it, quite tight, just enough to make her whimper into his mouth as he forced his tongue between her already kiss swollen lips. Anything to keep her quiet and her mind on the task at hand−getting him off. His jeans were chafing his dick slightly because it was rock hard and aching, so he rubbed himself against her to relieve himself a bit from the mounting pressure of his hard-on trying to literally force its way out of the material of his trousers and deep inside of her core.

He bit down on her bottom lip a bit too hard, but he didn't really care. He was done with being careful. He was done with waiting and pining, just because she's Elena freaking Gilbert, founding family royalty and currently sporting a ring filled with vervain.

'Right,' he said and lifted her off him, ignoring her annoyed little pout, and started the car. 'We're going back to mine. As much as I love my car, it's not made for making out in.'

A small smile prided Elena's face again, and then a frown of concern appeared.

'Won't your uncle and Stefan be there?'

Damon felt his jaw clench at the sound of his brother's name leaving her lips, but he shook his head in response and kept quiet. Sometimes he just wanted to slap her across the face and tell her to shut up about Stefan this and Stefan that. It's like he was in a freaking time machine half the time, going back to Katherine and her twenty questions about Stefan. And Damon, being too stupid to realize, complied until he figured out that the only reason Katherine asked him about Stefan wasn't because she was interested in Damon's family for _his_ sake, but because she was interested in how to best seduce his little brother.

Somehow Elena must have felt the change of atmosphere in the car, because she kept her head bowed down, picking up strands of hair, seemingly very interested in the butt end of every single one of those strands. Eventually Damon couldn't keep from asking.

'What are you doing?'

Elena looked up at him absentmindedly.

'Sorry? I'm not doing anything.'

Damon rolled his eyes at her.

'With the hair. What are you doing with your hair? Got lice or something?'

She looked at him puzzled for a moment, then realization hit.

'Oh, you mean this?' She held her hair up in front of her. Damon looked at her with the word 'duh' written all over his face. 'I'm just looking for split ends, is all. I do that when I'm nervous.'

Damon saw her whole body tense up at the last words. They were nearly home, so he let it lie for a while. Not that he cared or anything why she was nervous, more like curious in a clinical way. He shook his head as they got out of the car. Whatever.

'Wanna grab something to eat?' he asked as they walked through the massive hallway towards the library. He looked over at Elena when she didn't reply, and saw to his astonishment that she was half way up the stairs.

She looked so tiny and fragile when she turned around, her brown eyes huge with those long lashes casting shadows on her flustered cheeks.

She bit her lip and chewed on it for a little bit before speaking up.

'I just thought you brought me here to, you know…' Damon raised his eyebrow and cocked his head. This was interesting.

'Know what?' he purred and slowly, with the feline grace of a black panther, eased his way up the stairs until he was standing two steps below her, so he was facing her.

'You know…' Elena stalled, blushing all the way down to her neck.

Damon slid his hand along the outside of her thigh and hitched his thumb just inside the lining of her jeans and pulled her closer to him.

'No, Elena, I don't. I think you're going to have to spell it out for me.' This game he loved. This teasing game. He watched her lick her lips nervously and he enjoyed it. His hand continued to stroke the curve of her hip until it landed on her ass which he squeezed firmly, earning him Elena's elevated heart beats, like music to his ears.

'I thought you brought me here to', she hesitated, 'make love to me.'

He looked at her incredulously. Damon Salvatore didn't make love to anyone, he nearly laughed out loud. But the look on her face kept him quiet. Instead he took her hand and started leading her towards his bedroom. He felt weird, and strange thing was, he didn't even feel turned on any more. Even weirder, he had a ready and willing girl with him and he couldn't have cared less. He swallowed deeply as he sat her down on his bed. He could see her pulse racing and she licked her lips once, then twice. Like her mouth was dry or something. Come to think of it, so was his.

Then she smiled. That tiny smile that he only ever saw her use on him and just like that, he was back on track. He helped her out of her tank top and watched her as she started to shimmy out of her jeans. He reached out and pulled at them and they laughed since the jeans were so tight he could barely get them off her.

After discarding her jeans to the side of the bed Elena reached for his and started unbuttoning them. Before she'd managed to get to the last button he was rock hard again, and he thanked the gods for it because what had happened on the stairs earlier had sort of rocked his confidence a little. When he was finally naked he climbed on top of her and put an arm around her waist to lift her onto the middle of the bed.

He hovered above her, taking her in. Her honey colored skin, dark and supple against the white of her bra and knickers. He leaned down and smelled her neck. It was delicious and he couldn't help licking her blue colored vein and blowing lightly on the trail, raising goose bumps on her skin. He spread her thighs with his knees and settled in, rubbing himself against the sheer fabric of her underwear, hearing her catch her breath as his dick generated just the right pressure against her swollen clit. Damon kept kissing her jaw, trailing a pattern to her mouth where she met him with gusto. Elena's hands came up around his neck and into his hair, keeping him in place, her little tongue snaking around his mouth, thrusting it against his tongue, sucking on his lips. Biting him. He groaned and moved one of his hands to her breasts, where he played with her nipple until it was hard as a pebble. He continued his journey south, tracing the outline of her panties until she raised her hips to give him more access. He bit down lightly on her other nipple through the material of the bra, and she arched against him, letting out a tiny sound of pleasure. He slid one finger along her wet folds while circling her clit with his thumb.

'You're so wet for me, Elena', he whispered and kissed her again as one of his fingers entered her. She closed her eyes and started moving in unison against his hand, letting out small whimpers as he added an extra finger and then a third to stretch her out. She didn't know this, but he was watching her. Looking at her face so pure and beautiful and strong.

Damon couldn't wait to have her in his possession. He expertly managed to get her completely naked with her barely noticing. It was only as the tip of his dick was resting against her core, his knees helping to spread her thighs wider so she would open to him more easily, that he felt her body tense again, just like it had in the car. Her small hands pressed against his chest and he smirked in annoyance. He tried not to see flashes of him flipping her over while grabbing her hair, burying himself deep inside of her, thrusting hard to make her scream. And then release as he bit down on her silky smooth neck.

'What?' he drawled, trying to keep irritation out of his voice. He kept pressing the tip of his dick ever so lightly against her opening. Just an inch, if that, and he'd be inside of her wet heat. He was shaking from the strength it took not to push those extra inches, not to forget about decorum and the fact that she was on vervain. He hadn't dared re-enacting the _suckn'fuck_ while going down on her again, in fear that she'd been ingesting it as well. With her parents aware of what he was, he wouldn't even hold it against them if they had both Elena and her brother ingesting it daily.

She kept pushing him away and it bothered him. That she, what,_ didn't trust him?_ She had every right not to trust him, especially right now. He was turned on beyond belief. The smell of her arousal. The thought of being her first. The feel of her− he'd fingered her enough times to know that she'd be able to squeeze his dick so hard his eyes might pop out.

'I just need to know that you won't just ditch me after this.' Her voice was so low, even with his heightened hearing he had trouble making the words out. Her face was pale and withdrawn and she wouldn't look him in the eye. 'I mean, what I'm asking is for you to tell me honestly, that you at least won't dump me as soon as you've… slept with me.'

All of a sudden she turned her head so her dark orbs were drowning him in an ocean of feelings long forgotten to him. He straightened out a bit, trying to say something, but he didn't know what that could be. Would he? Stay? She was just a plaything. Something, some_one_ to do while waiting for the real deal. He'd already told her that this was all he would give her. Or _could_ give her. He avoided the fact that she had _no_ _idea_ how true that statement really was, that he'd already given his life and his love away for all of eternity. He had nothing to give to her.

Her voice was a mere whisper.

'I promised myself that I would save myself until I found the right person. You know, who wouldn't just be an ass, like I've seen happen to so many of my friends at school. I wanted it to be special, with a special person− someone I could fall in love with. And I'm thinking… that that person might be you, Damon.'

Her breath hitched and she was looking at him with such honesty and he felt the betrayal through to his core. At first Damon thought it was the way Elena had said his name that gave way to a strange but not entirely unnerving feeling in the base of his stomach. But then he realized− it was _what_ she'd said that made him feel as if he was floating. She thought of him as special. Of a special someone that she'd been saving herself for. Someone she could love. No one, not even Katherine had promised him as much.

He moved over and lay down next to her on the bed, one arm across his face. His mind was reeling. What the hell just happened? He felt her shifting, her warm and naked body pressing right up against him and her tiny hand trying to pry his arm away.

'Damon?'

He nodded as a reply.

'I didn't mean to make things uncomfortable. I remember what you said, that you're not boyfriend material, but I think that you are. I believe that you know that too. And I'm ready now. I just need to know that if you feel you will never love me back, then… ' She stopped herself for a second and cleared her throat. 'If you say to me that you'll love me one day, then it's ok, isn't it? We could just do it now, and get it over with. But the point is I trust you.'

She successfully lifted his arm so their eyes could meet. She smiled at him, that special smile. And he knew that he couldn't do what he'd been prepared to do just a minute ago. This had made him think back (again!) to Katherine, about the hopes he'd held, about the love he'd felt and how he'd given her everything, only to find out that it meant nothing in the end. What he'd thought was special to them, was also special to Stefan and probably to several young men living in and around Mystic Falls at that time. He shuddered involuntarily.

What had he been thinking? How in the hell did he think that he could get away with being with Elena and not think about Katherine? She was the spitting image of her. Softer and purer. But they were one and the same.

Elena started kissing him softly along his clavicle to the little dip at the base of his throat and all the way up to the scar on the left side of his chin and a soft moan escaped his lips. Her long hair, still hanging out from her pony tail, was tickling his shoulder. She stroked his scar very gently before bending down skimming her lips across his. She moved so she was straddling him. He'd gone soft as soon as she'd started talking about being with someone special, but he could feel himself harden as she moved on top of him with long languid movements. He grabbed her hips to hold her still.

'Elena, stop it. We're not gonna do this. Not now at least.' She stopped and looked at him with those innocent doe eyes.

'I thought you wanted me.' There were actual tears glittering from her eyelashes now. Fuck. Damon shook his head and held her head in his hands, so delicately he could barely remember ever having held anything or anyone this gently. A baby chick when he was five and his mother showed him what become of an egg if you don't eat it? A kitten when he was eight and his father had agreed to it just because his mother had just passed and he himself couldn't deal with having two young children crying after their 'mama'?

'I do', he whispered back. What could he possibly say to her? I'm a vampire so I will get what I want no matter how long I have to wait. Or I'll take it anyway because I don't want to wait?

Instead he pulled her down towards him and kissed her so carefully as if she was made of glass. He let himself get lost in that kiss, and in deepening it, he felt her relax against him for the first time that night. Completely relax. He pushed her away from him just enough so he could meet her gaze. Her lids were heavy and she looked absolutely perfect to him.

'I'll wait,' he said softly. 'I'll wait until you're ready for me.' And he really wanted to mean it, but he knew he wouldn't. At least this meant she'd keep her damned virginity.

As he dropped her off outside her house right on time to make her curfew and he said good night to her on the porch, he looked up at the full moon rising high above him and his thoughts wandered to an old church ruin and what lay beneath it. And for the first time, he wondered what he was really planning on doing. Katherine was trapped in a tomb because of him and Stefan, but their love for her was the reason they were still walking the earth. Damon might have known what he was doing this whole time, not that he'd ever let that one slip to young Stef, but was Katherine really going to choose him after all this time? Did she love him still the way he'd always loved her?

He'd been waiting 145 years for her return, but the plan had altered with Elena. He raised his chin up and headed towards his car.

Right.

This was how it was going to go down. He was going to get Katherine out and then she'd have to choose between him and Stefan. Damon had a backup plan. Damon had Elena. Not that the backup plan was really needed. Katherine knew he was the right choice for her. Stefan was just her bit on the side.

With that he got in his car with a new pep in his step, carefully folding away any thoughts of Elena and feelings and deep seated emotions that were slowly beginning to rise to the surface.

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><p><em>Remember; reviews equals love<em>

_Music to listen to; The Glitch Mob - Between Two Points_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: The response has been amazing. I've received so many Story Alerts and Author Alerts, and I'd just like to thank you all so much! You've all spurred me on so much._

_Special thanks to my Beta – you know who you are _

_Also, I'd like to thank Jen (Angel's blue eyed girl) for promoting me! YOU ROCK *grins* Thank you!_

_I've played with a few scenes from Season One in this chapter; I do hope that y'all will like it. At least a little. _

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><p>'You've been avoiding me for the last few days and all of a sudden you want to take me to the summer banquet at the Lockwood's?' Elena's eyes flashed with anger at Damon, where they were standing by the bleachers just before cheer practice was about to start.<p>

Damon seemingly squirmed, but Elena knew him well enough to know that he thought he'd done nothing wrong.

'Look, I've been busy. Something came up…'

He gave her a flirty smile and moved closer to her, but she held her hand up.

'You might have been able to treat girls however you wanted before, Mr. _Suave_, but that crap's not working on me. Either you tell me what you've been up to or it's a definite no, now _and_ in the future.'

The other girls had started filing onto the field, eyeing the couple curiously, but no one was being too obvious about it. Not until Caroline Forbes showed up, that is.

'Lover's tiff?' she quipped cheekily while sorting her ponytail out.

Elena tilted her head and frowned at Caroline. Surprisingly Damon tagged along with the light banter.

'You know, Caroline, you're right. I've been a really bad boy not calling Elena when I should've.' The smile he gave Caroline and the rest of the squad was so disarming, you could literally hear their panties drop one by one. 'And now', he turned towards Elena with a little pout, 'she's blowing me off and won't even let me make it up to her by taking her out.'

Elena rolled her eyes at him.

'It's not even a proper date, Damon. You're taking me to the Lockwood's summer banquet. Carol Lockwood throws one every year.'

'Oh my god, Elena,' Caroline interrupted. 'Please let Damon take you out and he can bring Stefan. We could totally double date.'

Damon wiggled his eyebrows at Elena, nodding his head with such fake enthusiasm; she started smiling against her will. Shaking her head she eyed both of them suspiciously.

'You do know this is such a cliché from some cheesy chick flick? The guy apologizing to the girl by using her friends as pawns.'

Damon smiled and nudged her at the side with his elbow.

'Well, did it work?'

She glanced up at him, still smiling.

'Yes.'

'Well in that case,' he turned to the Caroline and the girls and bowed down, 'thanks for your participation ladies, I believe she said yes.'

'You didn't really ask them to help you convince me, did you?' Elena asked Damon after she'd finished practice and he her drove home.

'A gentleman never tells,' he smirked earning himself a light slap on his arm, but Elena was still smiling all the way home.

* * *

><p>'What are you up to, Damon? I know you; you wouldn't just go to that banquet without an agenda and I want to know what it is before I let you drag me into anything with you.' Stefan was standing in front of his brother with his arms crossed and his chin raised high. Uncle Zach looked at the both of them from where he was sitting on the sofa in the library. Damon himself was lounging casually in one of the oversized armchairs leaning his head back and laughed.<p>

'Why are you so tense, brother? Elena wanted to go to the banquet, I said yes and she asked if you could take Caroline because Caroline fancies you.' He eyed Stefan up and down and frowned. 'Not that I get why she'd want to hang around you, you're such a party pooper.' Then he shrugged. 'I'm just the messenger. Take it or leave it. Or you could go as my chaperone, to make sure I won't do anything stupid and reckless.'

He jumped out of the armchair and turned to Stefan with a devilish smile.

'I think you, my brother, need to get laid. So why don't you just get down and dirty with Blondie, a little roll in the hay wouldn't hurt you. You're so uptight it makes my eyes sore and that stick up your ass must be chafing just a tad.' With that he grabbed a tumbler of bourbon and walked outside to stand on the patio at the back of the house, looking out over the woods surrounding the Salvatore grounds.

It was around noon so the sun was set high in the sky, Damon leaned his head back and closed his eyes before opening them again to take a swig of the tumbler he'd brought with him.

In less than four months he'd see Katherine again. He inhaled deeply, smelling the sunkissed leaves from the weeping willows further along the edge of the forest, near the creek on the other side of the low stone wall that his ancestors built to mark their land once upon a lifetime ago.

He rolled his neck to relieve some of the tension that had been building up inside of him over the past week. What had happened with Elena hadn't just passed him by. It had really upset the normalcy he'd built around himself for the last decade or so. In laymen's terms; it had freaked him the hell out.

Yes, he had been out of town for a few days, but for a good reason− Elena. No matter what he did or who he fed on, she was always there in the back of his mind trying to force her way through the huge boulder of resistance hiding his humanity. He wasn't human. He would never be human again. He didn't wish to be human. And she wasn't anything more than a bleak copy of the girl owning his real affections.

What had freaked him out the most was that he had actually been thinking about _her_ feelings when he had _turned her down_. (Yea there was no other way around it. He'd wanted to take a fire poker and stick it through his brain to make sure he hadn't lost it somewhere in the midst of all that 'feeling' crap she'd been throwing at him.) Since when did he not eat what was served? That's when he thought it was time to lay low for a bit, let it all cool down.

Get the hell outta Dodge.

When he had left it was with the intention not to come back until it was time to get Katherine out. He usually never cared who he picked up or who he fed from, but this time he'd been prowling the streets never stopping unless his would-be victim had long dark chocolate hair and honey colored skin. He'd turned his car around somewhere outside of Charlotte in the end and headed straight back to Mystic Falls and Elena.

He glanced sideways as he heard footsteps approaching.

'Fine,' he heard Stefan say behind him. 'I'll go with you to the banquet. But don't disappoint me, and don't disappoint Elena.'

Damon turned and faced his brother.

'Now how would I ever be able to disappoint you, Stefan?'

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><p>Damon drove up to the Gilbert house to pick Elena up late Sunday afternoon to go to the banquet together. Elena had insisted that he came by since it was 'a date.' He rang the doorbell and straightened his suit jacket. Jeremy Gilbert opened the door, looking like a typical sulky teenager, much like Stefan did every day come to think of it.<p>

'Who are you?' Jeremy asked without the slightest inclination to step aside to let Damon in.

'I'm Elena's date.'

Jeremy's scowl broke into a smile.

'Does our Dad know about that?'

'I wouldn't know until you let me in, now, would I?' Damon smiled back, steel in his voice.

'Uh, sorry, man.' Jeremy opened the door wide and walked inside with Damon just behind him.

'Mom. Dad. Elena's _date_ is here.' Jeremy smirked enunciating every word. Damon rolled his eyes at him.

As Grayson Gilbert came through from the kitchen together with Miranda, Jeremy squeezed past them and grinned mischievously. 'Her _older_ date', he stage whispered before disappearing through the doorway out of sight. Damon had to give it to him, the kid had spunk.

He turned to Elena's parents and bowed slightly.

'Mrs. Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert. Pleasure to meet you again.' He smiled, being careful to show a bit of his white teeth.

'Miranda, would you go tell Elena her friend has arrived, please?' Grayson said, not letting his eyes leave Damon. Miranda looked like she might say something, but a glance at her husband's hard-set features; she just nodded and scurried up the stairs towards Elena's room.

'You are up to something, vampire. I don't know what, but I know you are. Don't bring my daughter into this, or I will tell everyone about you. And don't think I won't…' Damon cut him off by shoving him into the wall before he'd managed to finish his sentence.

'Despite my dazzling exterior, I _am_ older than you, and therefore, may I add, also a lot wiser. So let me give you some advice, Gilbert.' Damon moved in closer, one hand around his throat and the other in a tight grip on his shirt to keep him in place. 'Do not cross me. If you so much as breathe to anyone about what I really am, I will rip your precious little daughter's heart out and feed on it.'

Damon took a step back and straightened out Grayson's wrinkled shirt which he'd grabbed when pushing him into the wall, and gave him an icy smile. 'Now let's just call that leverage.'

'You…' Grayson's face looked ashen against his dark clothes. 'You bastard.' He practically spat the words out.

'I've been called worse.' Damon looked up towards the stairs and his features softened.

Elena stepped daintily across the landing and down the stairs. She was wearing a new dress that she'd bought especially for this occasion. It was a sleeveless dress in hot pink chiffon with a fitted waist hugging her curves in just the right places. It had a draped front and a flared skirt that ended just below the knee showing off her tanned legs. She wore her hair up but had left soft curls that gently coiled around her face.

'Elena,' Damon breathed. 'You look beautiful.' He lent her his hand to help her down the last two steps and softly kissed her on the cheek. She blushed and he felt an unusual fluttery feeling inside of his chest. He swallowed hard and straightened his shoulders to get rid of it, while keeping her hand in his and started walking her towards the door.

'Oh no,' she chirped all of a sudden. 'I forgot my purse. Sorry Damon, I'll be right back.' She hurried up the stairs, where her mother stood, hand on her throat and tears in her eyes. Damon met Miranda's gaze but faltered to keep it, so he looked away. Suddenly Grayson Gilbert was standing right in front of him.

'If I trust you, vampire, you have to trust me too. You just did the one thing that would ensure that your secret is safe with me; you threatened the life of my child. But you have to give me your word that you won't let any harm come to her.' Damon's head snapped up and his blue eyes met Grayson's deep brown. 'Your word.' Grayson's voice was calm and level. Damon nodded.

'I need to hear you say it.'

Damon's jaw set. There were many things that he did that was wrong. There were many things that maybe he should regret ever doing. There were many things that he did which he enjoyed because it was sick and twisted and he was bored. But there was one thing he never did; he never broke his word.

'If you do as I say, Gilbert, I promise, I won't let anyone harm your daughter.'

Grayson let out a deep breath just as Elena came back down the stairs, purse in hand.

'Good.'

Damon turned to Elena and offered her his arm, which she took waving her parents goodbye.

'Have fun darling,' Miranda said quietly, so quietly Damon didn't think Elena could hear her. 'Be careful out there.'

* * *

><p>Arriving at the Lockwood's conjured up a lot of memories for Damon, memories he wasn't too fond of. He led Elena up to the threshold of the large estate and stopped just shy of entering. He politely let Elena make small talk to Carol Lockwood, who asked them to come in and enjoy their evening. Damon smiled at the elder woman, trying not to smirk. He was in! If the old wench only knew who she'd just invited into her home.<p>

'Let's get a drink,' Damon said, trying to find out where Stefan was in the crowd so he could keep an eye on him. If he remembered correctly the old ball room should be on his left while the staircase towards the private quarters just off to the right. He casually looked around to kick his memory into gear. All of a sudden they heard a high squeal, and he sighed inwardly.

'Guess Blondie's here with my brother,' he said to Elena who gave him a small frown. He smirked at her. 'Alright; Caroline− but I'm only saying it for your benefit.'

They walked up to Caroline, her arm securely tucked under Stefan's. She gave them a huge smile showing off her dimples and her blonde hair bounced around her petite face.

'Yay, you're here, I've been looking everywhere for you,' she said and gave Elena a quick hug without destroying neither hair nor makeup. 'Stefan says he doesn't know how to dance, but he tells me you're a great dancer, Damon, so I'm gonna have to steal you for a dance right now, cause I'm officially bored.' She quickly turned to Stefan while making a grab for Damon's hand. 'No offense Stefan, but I really wanna dance.'

'None taken, 'Stefan smiled.

'Look, I'm really not a good dancer,' Damon tried but Caroline tugged his sleeve.

'Oh come on, Damon.' She literally pouted. 'You won't mind if I steal him for a second, will you Elena?'

Elena laughed and gently pushed Damon towards her friend.

'Of course not. Caroline won't take no for an answer, so you might as well. I'll just wait here with Stefan while you two go dance. Just remember to save me one,' she said, still laughing at Damon's obvious discomfort.

* * *

><p>'What the hell are you doing?' Damon demanded as soon as they'd rounded the corner when Stefan and Elena were out of sight. Damon grabbed Caroline's arm roughly and dragged her to an adjoining room and shut the door behind them. 'I thought I told you to keep Stefan occupied tonight. So, what ...' He stopped himself. 'Stefan told you to ask me to dance with you, didn't he?' His eyes were ablaze as he scanned Caroline's face. She had tears glistening in her eyes and she was visibly shaking.<p>

'No, of course not, Damon, you're hurting me. Please let me go.'

He ignored her pleas; instead he grabbed her other arm as well and shook her to get her to focus.

'Compulsion,' he whispered, his jaw working overtime, trying not to lash out at this young girl who Stefan was trying to manipulate when he was still on animal blood. Dear sweet brother, your compulsion is too weak.

He went completely still and stared up at her. 'Right, seeing as you're here, you might as well help me out.'

Damon took a deep breath to calm down.

'You're fine, Caroline,' he soothed and stroke her hair gently. Caroline stopped shaking and nodded, her eyes on his.

'I'll be fine,' she mumbled back.

'Yes you will. You're just going to help me out, and then we're back to plan A; making sure Stefan is a busy little bee so he won't get in my way, ok?'

'I'm going to help you out, 'Caroline repeated slowly, before Damon grabbed her hand and pulled her with him towards another door leading up to the stairs. Caroline seemed to snap out of the daze and went back to her normal bubbly self.

'But I did really well when I helped you out before, right? You're glad Elena's not mad at you so you could get to the party, right?'

'Right,' Damon mumbled and shook his head, looking around to make sure no one could see them.

'Oh goodie,' Caroline smiled and giggled.

* * *

><p>'So, are you having a good time, Elena?' Stefan offered his arm to her, which she took, and they slowly made their way across the room towards the huge garden in the back.<p>

'We just got here, but I'm sure I'll have a great time.' She smiled at him, and then tilted her head a little. 'How come you and Damon don't get along, if you don't mind me asking?'

Stefan stopped and turned towards Elena, his smile thoughtful. He seemed to contemplate what to tell her.

'Damon isn't an easy person to be around most of the time. He rarely forgets, never forgives. While I wish to keep the past in the past, he keeps dragging it up time and again. He chooses not to forget anything that's happened, and he takes pleasure in reminding me about it.'

Stefan looked at a spot just above Elena's head before he continued, looking as if he wasn't sure he should continue, but eventually he met her gaze again.

'And then there was this girl, whom he loved very much, but who unfortunately used him and his affection against him.' Stefan sighed. 'It hurt him deeply.'

'What was her name?'

'Her name was Katherine.' Stefan smiled sympathetically. 'It was a long time ago though, Elena. I'm sure it has nothing to do with his actions these days. I'm just saying that he's got a lot of baggage.'

Elena managed to conjure up a smile.

'Well, I bet if you'd take the time to talk to each other and really listen to one another, you'd be able to work it out, Stefan. I'm sure of it.' She suddenly thought of something. 'Do you know why Damon left and where he went? He won't tell me.'

'I guess that's what you get when you're with Damon. That's what he's like. You're just going to have to take it or leave it with him. Try to change him and he'll throw a hissy fit.' Stefan laughed. 'Look, I'm sure wherever he went, he'll tell you eventually. But if he doesn't and you still want to know, maybe you have to ask yourself if he's the one for you in the end.'

Stefan put her hand back in the crook of his arm and they started walking again. Elena's forehead was creased and she kept biting the inside of her lip trying not to think of what Stefan had just told her. Would Damon always run off somewhere and not tell her? Would he just disappear one day and not come back? She wasn't one of those needy girls, but she still needed to be able to trust the person she was with, and in return, she expected them to trust her back.

Stefan glanced over at Elena, who was deep in thought. He wasn't happy about what he'd done tonight, but she needed to be warned and from what Caroline had told him about Elena, she wouldn't take a straight out warning too kindly. She liked giving people the benefit of the doubt, so he'd gone for a different approach. He was now officially, what Caroline called it; a doubt planter.

* * *

><p>'Stand right…there', Damon said and positioned Caroline facing the entrance of one of the many rooms on the second floor of the Lockwood estate. He proceeded to pick up a heavy wooden box with an intricate pattern carved into the lid and moved it to a table in the middle of the room. He opened the box and removed one of the small panels lining the inside, showing a small hidden space where he retrieved a large piece of jewelry.<p>

Caroline turned around at the sound and walked up to him. He was turning the jewelry around in his hand letting the light shine through the amber colored stone, which was attached to the back of a pendant.

'You're not supposed to touch,' Caroline quipped nervously. The room was filled with old memorabilia that was going to be used for the coming Founder's Council's Heritage display later on in the year. A lot of families had already started to gather up some of their keepsakes for the day in question. And the reason Caroline knew about this was that her mother had muttered something about how it was hard enough being a cop in this town, but now all founding families were going to keep their heirlooms on show without security for anyone to steal.

'What is that?' she asked when Damon said nothing. He was closing the box after putting the panel back in place.

'It's a very important crystal', he mumbled while returning the box to its original spot.

'Well, how did you know it was there?' Caroline queried.

Damon sighed.

'Because I put it there.'

'When?' Caroline wasn't going to give up that easily.

'A long time ago' he said, emphasizing the words. He took one last look at the crystal before putting it into the pocket of his trousers. 'And tonight I'm taking it back, thanks to you.' He started ushering her out of the room.

'What's it for?' Caroline kept prodding and Damon started was tiring of the twenty questions. He grabbed her arm and pulled her with him.

'Never you mind.'

'Well, you can't just steal it,' Caroline said, indignantly.

Damon stepped in front of her with a glare.

'It's not stealing if it's mine. Now let's go.'

* * *

><p>Damon enjoyed the feel of the crystal so close to him. It was an important tool to free Katherine, and he'd waited many years to retrieve it. Being dead had its advantages, but sometimes the disadvantages outweighed the positives. Like having to be invited in.<p>

When he'd come back to Mystic Falls, he'd overheard Caroline and her friends talking at the Grill about the banquet like it was prom (for crying out loud, as if it mattered) and he'd approached her to find out when it was going down. In the midst of it she'd confessed that Elena was on the war path against him for skipping town (sometimes the lose tongue on Blondie was a godsend), so he decided to get some leverage.

He compelled Caroline and a few of the girls on the cheer squad, making sure that whatever happened, Elena was taking him to the banquet with her. His second option would have been going with Caroline, but he was glad his plan hadn't backfired. Elena was looking stunning tonight and he couldn't wait to get back to her, but when he rounded the corner to where he last saw Elena and Stefan they were nowhere to be found.

'Wonder where Stefan and Elena are?' Caroline said, more to herself than Damon, but there was a coloring to her tone that grabbed his attention. Something close to insecurity and Damon's senses were on high alert in an instant. He'd always sensed that Stefan had a weakness for Elena, but hearing it voiced (in not so many words) from Caroline made the adrenaline pump around his veins like a tornado breaking large trees like they were match sticks.

'Come on,' he urged her on. 'I bet I know where they are.'

They found Stefan and Elena on the dance floor.

'So much for not knowing how to dance', Damon whispered in Caroline's ear. She flinched at his words and he relished in her discomfort.

'Why would Stefan lie to me?' Caroline's bottom lip quivered.

Damon turned away from the couple on the dance floor because if he looked at them another second he'd have to rip someone to pieces. He'd clearly stated that Elena was his, and Stefan had ignored the warning.

'Because Stefan's a douche.'

Damon ordered a scotch neat at the bar and a glass of champagne for Caroline.

'Keep an eye out for my Mom, ok, so she won't see me drinking champagne.' she sniffled and wiped her eyes a little with a handkerchief Damon gave to her. 'She's the sheriff.' He nodded absently (as if he could give a damn) and brought the tumbler to his lips. He glanced over at Caroline who was sipping the champagne obviously trying to regain some of her dignity.

'You know that you're just a rebound for Stefan, right?' he said callously. Caroline's head whipped back with a wounded look on her face, but Damon was relentless. He was angry and hurt and seething. Elena was openly flirting with his brother and he was just supposed to stand there and take it? No way. 'Stefan's still hung up on this other girl, Katherine.' Damon glanced over his shoulder. Elena was smiling widely as Stefan leaned in and said something in her ear. A muscle twitched in Damon's jaw and he turned back.

'Yea, I don't think he'll ever get over her.'

'But he said he liked me.'

Damon chuckled softly.

'Of course he would.' He looked over at the blonde girl next to him. 'He'd say anything to get into your pants, but you were already willing, weren't you? Whether or not he would've said it?'

Caroline gasped and stared at him, tears slowly making an appearance again. He smirked back at her.

'Why are you so mean to me?' she whined.

'Because I can. Because you let me. And because I'm bored.'

'I don't even get what Elena sees in you.' Caroline said quietly, once again using the handkerchief to bat the corners of her eyes.

Damon decided to change tactics.

'Look, I'm sorry', he said and reached out to dry a stray tear that was gliding down her cheek. 'I'm having a bad night and my brother is getting on my nerves trying to wind me up. I shouldn't take it all out on you.' He searched her eyes and winked at her.

'No, you shouldn't.' Caroline gave him a tiny smile.

'Does that mean that I'm forgiven?' He asked cheekily, using light compulsion to make her agree.

She nodded, her smile growing, showing off her perfect set of teeth.

He hesitated, but lifted his hand to her cheek and pulled some of her hair behind her ear. Her breath caught.

'What are you doing?'

'You're a beautiful girl, Caroline. Has anyone ever told you that?' To his amusement the comment earned him a blush. 'Well, Stefan's a fool if he doesn't see what I see.'

'I don't see what exactly?' They heard Stefan's low voice next to them. Damon slowly lowered his arm and he turned to Stefan and Elena standing in front of them.

'What exactly don't I see?' Stefan said again, staring between them with cold eyes.

Damon swallowed hard. He wouldn't look at Elena at first, but then he did he raised his chin and smirked at her. She had an unreadable look on her face, but he could see that she was trying really hard not to cause a scene.

'I think Bonnie was looking for you earlier, Caroline,' Stefan said and pulled Caroline out of her seat. 'Let's go see if we can find her.'

Elena gave him a grateful smile and he squeezed her shoulder gently. An act that made Damon's world shrink another notch, focusing solely on how not to rip his brother's throat open and he could feel the heat of his insides trying to burst out. But in taking a deep breath he calmed himself enough to meet Elena's accusing eyes.

'What are you doing, Damon?' Her voice was cold just like her eyes.

'What?' Damon smirk grew wider. 'You're having fun with my brother; it's only fair I have some fun with _his_ date.'

'Why are you acting like such a jerk?' she huffed.

'Please, if I wanted to act like a jerk, you'd notice.'

Elena narrowed her eyes and walked up to him, so close he could smell her Díor perfume mixed with that heady scent of her own personal fragrance. The scent that made his mouth water and his dick twitch in his trousers. Tonight was no exception.

'You're being an ass for a reason and I wanna know why.' He could literally see the light switch come on in her brain. Uh-oh, not a good sign. His last minute plan seemed to fail quite quickly. 'You're not doing it to make Stefan jealous; you're doing it to warn me off you. Why?'

'What?' Damon scoffed. 'Look, honey. I don't have to warn anyone off me, they should already know what I'm like. What you see is what you get, Elena. I've already told you that.'

'This _isn't_ you, Damon. I've seen the real you. I know you. You're just doing this to prove to yourself that you don't feel anything for me. This is you trying to push me away.'

Damon's eyes flashed with anger and he stood up, nearly toppling the bar stool over.

'You don't know me. You don't know the first thing about me. I don't _care_ about you. You were fun to be around until you started talking about feelings. I don't do feelings, _Elena_.'

Elena raised her chin and looked up at him.

'There you go, trying to scare me off again. But guess what, Damon Salvatore, I'm not going to disappear just because you're afraid of emotions. This person, this isn't who you really are.'

'And how would you know that?' Damon spat out. 'From holier than thou Stefan? Trust me on this one, whatever you heard about me from Stefan is all true. He's the one person who wouldn't try to sugarcoat what I'm like.'

Elena looked at him for a long while until her features softened and their breathing slowly started returning to normal. She reached out and put a hand against his cheek. He flinched, but she wouldn't withdraw her hand.

'He's the only person, except yourself, isn't he?' she said softly, her gaze firm and unrelenting.

Damon's jaw clenched and unclenched in an attempt to regain his bearings. This girl was so damn stubborn. Couldn't she just see how corrupt he was? How black his heart was? That he was completely soulless? And most importantly; that she meant nothing to him?

'Stefan told me about Katherine.' Her eyes caressed his face and her hand slowly moved from his face down to his arm. She pulled him with her. 'Let's dance.' Her hand found his and she entwined their fingers and he followed her as if in slow motion. She was mesmerizing him, binding him to her and he couldn't let go.

* * *

><p>'Tell me about her,' Elena said as they were moving in a slow dance in the middle of the floor. 'What was she like?'<p>

Damon searched her eyes and his forehead creasing slightly. He drew a ragged breath and relaxed into her arms a little.

'She was beautiful. A lot like you in that department.' His lips curved up into a small smile.' She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive.'

Elena couldn't help smiling back.

'So which one of you dated her first?'

Damon chuckled quietly, but he looked fairly impressed by her.

'Nicely deduced.' His features darkened somewhat. 'Ask Stefan, I'm sure his answer differs from mine.'

'What happened? Why did you end things?'

'We didn't.' Damon let out a sigh, and automatically they stopped dancing, just standing there on the dance floor holding each other. 'There was a fire. A tragic fire.'

Elena's eyes filled up with tears and she stood up on her toes to give him a tender kiss.

'I'm sorry.'

Damon shook himself back to the here and now. He didn't understand how she managed to do it, but somehow she always made him spill his guts. It really had to stop.

'Look, Damon, I don't know what's been going on between you and Stefan. But I want you to know, that I'm here for you. And thank you for trusting me enough to tell me about Katherine.' She held his gaze. 'Just know that I trust you too. But you need to stop with the bad boy act.' She gave him a cheeky smile. 'I like you. Don't ruin it.'

* * *

><p><em>Remember; reviews equals love<em>


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Thanks all of you for the author alerts and the favorite alerts and all of your reviews. Fantastic... Love you all!_

_A special thanks to my Beta, as always - you know who you are :)_

* * *

><p>Damon was lying on top of Elena, weighing her down while stroking the soft insides of her arms which she had stretched over her head. Her hair had come undone from her hair pins and silky strands were tickling Damon's wrists while he greedily took her lips in possession. Her hot pink dress was in a neat pile next to his bed, his trousers and shirt haphazardly thrown on top of it. He couldn't really figure out how they got to his house or how they got undressed, but he guessed with all the talk of Katherine and Stefan making his night a total buzz fest, he'd had one or two glasses too many of whiskey. Not that he cared. All he cared about was the naked and supple girl lying underneath him, moaning against his mouth.<p>

'I can't wait to have my way with you', he whispered hotly, letting his tongue slide down her neck, nibbling at the fragile skin just about covering those succulent veins of hers. He could smell her blood and it made him feel slightly dizzy with want and thirst. He bit down with his blunt teeth just above her collarbone instead to stop himself from grabbing her by the throat and tapping her vein on the spot. The silent moans coming out of Elena's mouth made his blood boil and pound in his ears almost drowning out her soft cries of pleasure. He was on edge, he hadn't fed properly in days and his balls felt like they were about to explode. He couldn't wait to fuck her brains out and feed on her while hearing her scream his name.

He groaned out loud, his dick aching to be buried inside of her. He slipped his tongue in her mouth, moving it along hers, relishing in the fact that he could turn her on like this.

Elena wrapped her silky smooth legs around his waist and with a sigh he pressed himself harder against her. A wave of excitement slithered down his spine as he heard her sharp intake of breath and felt her body stiffen in response to his erection pushing against her wet slit. She started saying something but he covered her mouth with his lips.

'Sch', he soothed and continued kissing her. At first she didn't respond to his tongue or mouth insistent against hers, but she eventually relaxed and eagerly let her tongue massage his. He waited until she was completely relaxed to position himself right on top of her, waiting to hit the target when she least expected it.

Damon ran his hands along the length of Elena's arms and gripped her wrists to keep her in place just as he thrust himself deep inside of her. The small whimper that came from her kiss swollen lips egged him on further. He withdrew, leaving the head of his dick inside of her, before he once again forcefully rammed his length into her wet heat. Elena cried out in pain and he took delight in her obvious distress. He grabbed both of her wrists with his left hand and grabbed her hip with his right to keep her from squirming underneath him as he pushed himself in and out of her, grinding his hips against her, relishing in her walls constricting around him.

'Damn, you're tight', he groaned, kissing her neck. She tried to get away from him, tried to get her hands free, but he had her both her wrists in an iron grip.

'Please', she cried. 'Please, Damon. You're hurting me.'

Elena moved her head to the side when he leaned in to kiss her, and it really annoyed him. He let go of her hip and reached up, pulled that goddamn ring off her finger and threw it on the floor next to them. She gasped in shock.

'Why are you doing this?' Her voice cracked and tears were streaming down her face. 'Please, Damon', she tried again. 'Please stop.'

He grabbed her chin with one hand and let the other slide around her tiny waist while looking deep into her eyes.

'I want you to want me, but you keep resisting', he said and went completely still, barely noticing her feeble attempts to get him to let go of her, pushing her small hands against his chest. 'You're going to let me fuck you and feed from you and you're going to love it.'

Elena looked at him, her eyes empty and her pupils dilated. She stopped trying to fight him.

'I'm going to love it.' She said in a small voice and then she smiled at him. Damon smiled back. All was back to the way it should be, and apparently Daddy Dearest had forgotten to give her vervain after all. What an idiot.

'Good', he said, feeling very content with himself. Elena even started moving in rhythm with him as he slowly picked up the pace again. Her tightness felt amazing and he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling, trying not to think that he had now rendered her into any other random girl he could have easily picked up on the street.

He let his fingers gingerly caress the side of her neck, feeling her pulse beat against the softness of her skin. He grabbed her by the throat and held on just a little too tight, making her eyes widen in alarm and her mouth open slightly to catch her breath. He smiled at her and she warily smiled back, compulsion fighting against the voice in her head screaming 'danger'. Seeing the fear in her eyes, smelling her arousal, the arousal he'd induced in her by compelling her to want him, attracted the vampire in him.

He felt the veins protrude around his eyes and his fangs elongate. Elena inhaled sharply but said nothing. Damon's breathing was shallow and his pulse beat fast, just like it did every time he was about to feed, the adrenaline surging through him. But the compulsion he'd put on Elena made her compliant and calm. The ultimate high for him was a victim that was terrified. Their blood tasted riper than any other. He toyed with the idea of compelling her to remember to be frightened, but he was horny and she was wet and he was hungry as hell. He leaned Elena's head to the side for a better angle and was just about to plunge his teeth into her, when a tiny sound from his left distracted him.

'Damon', he heard Elena's voice from the entrance to his room. He looked at Elena in confusion but her eyes were closed and she didn't seem to have said anything. She was still smiling serenely, holding his neck in a loose embrace.

'Damon', he heard the voice again. Slowly he let his eyes leave Elena towards the door.

A dark haired girl was leaning leisurely against the door frame, dressed in a violet colored crinoline dress, one which he'd once upon a lifetime ago bought Katherine… He sat up with a start, pushing Elena away from him, his eyes not leaving Katherine Pierce's petite frame, where she was standing in front of him, smiling gleefully.

'Have you forgotten about me already, Damon? You promised me to chase me forever.' She tossed her long dark curls over her shoulder and pouted her lips the way that used to make him want to move the sun and earth for her. 'You told me you'd love me forever.'

Damon shivered as Katherine's slightly childish voice fully registered in his brain. He felt his mouth open in surprise, but he couldn't do anything to hide his shock. Katherine was back! Somehow she'd found a way to get out of the tomb, and now she was back seeing him in the arms of someone else. A feeble copy of herself at that. He felt himself trying to untangle his body from Elena's, to show Katherine how he never meant to forget about her, but the look of disdain that passed over Katherine's delicate features showed him in not so many words that what he had done wasn't just something he could get away with in a heartbeat. There was a trickle of panic coursing through him, the thought of Katherine not wanting him any longer made his throat constrict, made it unbearable to breathe, which was odd, since he didn't need to breathe to survive.

'Damon.' He heard Elena say next to him and he looked over at her in confusion. 'You've got me now; you don't have to chase her anymore.' She smiled at him, and her smile was genuine and beautiful.

He looked back at Katherine. She was edging closer to the bed, her dress rustling gently against the wooden floor boards.

'I'm back now so you should just get rid of her.' Her voice had taken on a slightly nasal tone, one she used only when she was annoyed. Damon remembered every single detail that was Katherine Pierce. He also remembered that he used to do anything and everything she told him to.

'Kill her', Katherine whispered vehemently leaning in over him, pushing his chin up with her finger. 'She's served her purpose now. She kept you company while you were waiting for me, I get it. Now get rid of her.'

Damon started shaking his head. There was something wrong, he couldn't put his finger on it, but it all felt wrong.

Katherine raised her voice into a loud hiss.

'You need to kill her Damon, so we can be together.' Katherine was standing so close to him if he only leaned forward a bit he would be able to kiss her, but Katherine was looking intently at Elena, who sat naked and shivering next to him on the bed. 'Kill her.'

'Please Damon, don't', Elena whispered, her eyes glittering with unshed tears.

He shook his head at her and turned to Katherine again, who gave him a poisonous smile.

'If you don't kill her, I will.' She waited just under a second before her face shifted and she lunged for Elena whose scream sent chills down Damon's spine.

'No!' he growled and sprang towards Katherine just as her fangs sank into Elena's neck. He was about to reach them, when Katherine's arm came out of nowhere and pushed him hard enough for him to crash into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Then everything turned dark.

* * *

><p>Damon woke up with a start. All he could hear was his own elaborate breathing, the rest of his room lay in complete silence, and it was pitch black. He spun around in the bed to look for Elena's dead body where Katherine must have left her, before he realized that she wasn't even there with him. It was in the middle of the night and he was alone and it had all been a dream. He ran his hand over his face to calm down, trying to sort his head out.<p>

Damon Salvatore didn't do nightmares. Not unless he was causing them. He got up and started pacing the room, the drying sweat on his back causing chills to run up and down his spine.

This was all Elena's doing. Trying to get into his head, making him forget the real reason he was in this town to start with. In his dream he'd tried to save her from Katherine – when he should hand her over to Katherine as a gift, a peace offering for having had to leave her in that damned tomb for too fucking long.

There wasn't a chance in hell he'd be able to go back to sleep now, not that he slept much at night anyway, the nocturnal part of him always nudging to break lose. He got dressed quickly and left the house in silence. Instead of taking his vintage car, he started running towards the woods. It was always faster that way, especially when he was on the hunt.

* * *

><p>Stefan found Damon nursing a bottle of whiskey at The Grill. He sat down next to his brother who groaned slightly at the sight of him.<p>

'What now?' Damon snapped and grabbed his tumbler, taking a long sip of the amber colored fluid.

'Coffee, please', Stefan told the bartender, and shot Damon a sideways glance. 'You haven't been home in days.'

Damon rolled his eyes at him. 'What do you care?'

Stefan sighed and nodded towards the bartender who brought him his coffee. 'Look, I know I shouldn't have taken up Elena's time…'

Damon interrupted him before he was able to finish his sentence.

'No. What you shouldn't have done, _brother_, was compel Caroline to do your dirtywork. You're not good at it. In fact, you suck at it.' Damon looked straight into Stefan's eyes. 'It didn't accomplish anything, except pissing me off. And when I get pissed off,' He gave Stefan a devilish grin. ', who knows what I'll do.'

Stefan looked flustered.

'Damon, please…'

'Oh come on, Stefan. I'm only joking. There's no way in hell Elena would go for you. I mean, look at you.' He glanced over at Stefan with a frown. 'You're just so boring and broody. Elena's way too much fun for you.' His face lit up as he smiled, albeit with a mocking underlining in the curl of his mouth. 'That's why she opted for the better and superior brother. Me.'

Stefan shook his head and smiled his tone of voice not entirely void of sarcasm. 'Damon, you're right, of course. Why would she ever pick me?' He then turned to Damon, with a slight frown between his brows. Damon used to call that his more 'serious vampire-look. 'I'm not going after Elena. I'm just making sure you're just not using her as a pawn in one of your games. When I spoke to her, I…' He stopped himself, as if he thought better of him saying anything.

'What?' Damon asked, feeling a knot forming in the pit of his stomach.

'I must be stupid for even telling you this, but when I spoke to her at the Lockwood's last Sunday, I realized that she likes you, Damon.' Stefan's eyes turned serious. 'She really does, and I am hoping that you won't screw this up. I think she might be worth your while.'

'Oh, come on.' Damon scoffed. 'She's just part of the entertainment, making my stay in this godforsaken deadbeat town bearable.' He waved for the bartender to get him another clean tumbler before grabbing the bottle of whiskey and the glasses and walking over to the pool table. Stefan warily followed.

'Then why are you here, Damon? Why don't you just leave, if this town is making you so miserable? I know you're not here to visit Uncle Zach for the sake of family.'

Damon turned around and held out a pool cue to him, a lopsided smirk on his face.

'Game of eight-ball, a drink and I might tell you about my _diabolical_ plan.'

Stefan sighed, but reluctantly accepted the cue.

'I'm not in the mood for playing games. Just tell me why you're here.'

Damon shook his head and poured them two doubles.

'Cheer up brother, and drink with me. You might just find out the reason I'm making your life hell on earth. Why not take the risk playing a game of pool with your brother? For old times' sake.'

Stefan looked around the bar for a moment before deciding.

'Fine. One game, and then you tell me why you're really here.'

Damon chuckled.

'Only if you win, baby bro'.'

Stefan nodded once.

'Rack 'em up.' He grabbed some chalk and started working his cue tip. 'I'll break.'

* * *

><p>'Elena.' Elena's mother sighed looking at her daughter who was sitting in the window sill of the downstairs living room, writing in her diary. 'You should really concentrate on looking at those college applications that I've gotten for you. I know I keep going on at you about it, but your future is really important.'<p>

Elena finished writing her sentence before putting the pen down.

'I've started looking at Mercy College and New York University', she said. 'They've both got great campuses and renowned professors, I'm sure you and Dad will find them appealing.'

Miranda Gilbert sat down next to Elena and looked at her with a concerned frown. Elena knew what would be coming next.

'Your father has his eyes set on you going to University of Virginia. New York is pretty far away and…'

Elena interrupted her, feeling the anger washing over her in waves. They'd been through this so many times now.

'…and he wants me to become a doctor, just like him, but with better prerequisites.' She let out a loud sigh. 'Yea, I know, he keeps telling me. And I keep telling him that I don't want to be a doctor, I want to be a writer. And you've always wanted me to become a writer; I don't understand why that's changed?'

'Your grades are outstanding.' Miranda interjected. 'I do think you should consider your options more carefully.'

Elena stood up and walked across the room towards the stairs leading up to her bedroom.

'Look, Mom, I've already thought about it. You've always told me to follow my dreams, and now I am, so why are you trying to stop me?' She shook her head slowly. 'Maybe Jeremy wants to pursue Dad's career, but I don't, I just wish Dad could see that and be happy for me.'

With that she turned on her heels and hurried up the stairs. She could understand her parents concern about college applications, but what she couldn't understand was her father's insistence on her becoming a doctor. He wasn't ever giving Jeremy grief about stuff like that, and yes, she knew that Jeremy didn't have the test scores that she did, but it wasn't fair – the amount of pressure they put on her.

She tried calling Damon, but it went straight to voice mail. It's not like he'd been avoiding her, but since the night of the summer banquet, she'd noticed that he was acting more withdrawn around her than he usually did. She was hoping that he was coming out of his funk soon, or she'd have to see to that he would. She smiled while she set her cell down on the vanity table in her room. Damon didn't know it yet, but she had plans for them both, and she was sure he was going to love it.

* * *

><p>'Right', Stefan said and laid his cue down on the pool table. 'I won so you're telling me about your…', he raised his brow at Damon, '<em>diabolical<em> plan that has brought you to Mystic Falls.'

Damon was fuming inside, only for the plain fact that he had to lose against Stefan in a damned game of eight balls. He would've won hands down. But he was itching to tell Stefan why he was in Mystic Falls, to see the look on his brother's face as he told him he was bringing Katherine back to them. To him.

'How did you get so good at Eight-Balls?', he asked Stefan instead and leaned against the pool table, reaching for the whiskey bottle which was nearly empty by now. 'You used to suck at it. I taught you how to play.'

Stefan shook his head. 'You're deflecting. Tell me why you're here.'

Damon pointed his finger at Stefan's chest. 'See, I remember when you asked me to teach you how to play. You were around twelve and Father's friend, Clark Williamson, had a Billiard table shipped over from England for us. No one around here had played it before, and Father brought all of his acquaintances over, and over cigars and brandy they learned how to play. And after I'd learned the game you asked me to teach you how to play Four Ball Billiards on the sly when Father wouldn't notice, because he'd forbidden you to. Then you told him about what I'd _made_ you do, as if I'd forced your hand, and he whipped me.'

Damon frowned in remembrance, looking intently at Stefan who was visibly disturbed by the memory. 'Do you remember? I couldn't sit for a week. And if I'm not mistaken you told me you enjoyed the game too much and it made you feel bad. So you decided to have Father punish _me_ for something _you_ felt bad about.'

Stefan flexed his neck and moved to stand in front of Damon. His jaw clenched and unclenched, trying to forget some things from the past best forgotten.

'Damon. Why are you _really_ here?'

Damon stood up, making Stefan take a step back.

'Do you remember what it was like in this town, before Katherine and the others were killed in that church?'

Stefan nodded slowly, trying to work out how Katherine came into play all of a sudden. Damon looked at him with cold, calculating eyes.

'I remember the fear and the hysteria', Stefan said warily.

'The town's people were killing vampires one by one. When they came for Katherine I went straight to Emily. I said I'll do anything, name your price – just protect her.' Suddenly a faint glow appeared in Damon's eyes. 'She did.'

'What do you mean, Emily protected Katherine? She died in that church, Damon. She died.'

Damon shook his head, a smile starting to appear around the corners of his mouth.

'She did some kind of spell with a crystal and while the church was burning and we thought Katherine was burning in it, she wasn't.'

A chill started to spread low in Stefan's stomach. Damon's facial expression looked slightly feverish. He really didn't like what he was hearing. It had to be wrong. Damon had to be wrong. Katherine was dead.

'I saw her go inside the church, we both did.' He was grasping at straws, he knew that. Damon's demeanor was changing, there was an intensity surrounding him that frightened Stefan.

'See, that's the thing, Stefan. There's a tomb underneath the church and the spell sealed Katherine in that tomb, protecting her.'

Stefan took a step closer to Damon, looking around to make sure no one was listening in. The bar was buzzing with punters, no one paying attention to the brothers, but he just wanted to make sure. The chill had turned into a petrifying cold, numbing his face, making it harder for him to speak.

'Are you telling me that Katherine is alive?' he managed to ask between clenched teeth.

'Well, if that's what you wanna call it', Damon scoffed. 'She's been trapped in a mystical holding cell for the last century and a half. How do you think she's doing, Stefan?'

Damon leaned in close to Stefan, his warm breath tickling Stefan's neck and ear.

'Did you know that witches can use celestial events to draw energy into their magic?' He leaned back in mock surprise. 'Me neither. But in order to get the crystal its power, Emily used the comet that was passing over our heads that night. Remember the comet?' Damon looked at him with his upper lip curved in sarcasm. 'Of course you do, it's the night you died. Anyhow, in order for that crystal to work again… connect the dots for me here, brother.'

'The comet had to return', Stefan said in a low voice.

Damon threw out his arms, pretending to be enthusiastic. 'So the prodigal brother of mine solves the mystery. Downside – long time in between comets. But the comet passed and I got the crystal – thanks to you and Caroline – making it easier for me. And now here we are.'

Stefan looked at his brother, his eyes narrowing. 'Why would Emily do this for you?'

Damon smiled a knowing smile. 'Because she knew that they'd come for her too. And she made me promise that her lineage would survive.'

Stefan looked over Damon's shoulder, at nothing in particular. 'I remember you saving her children.'

'Yea, and as long as Emily keeps her word, I'll keep mine.' Damon raised his chin, a smirk on his lips. 'But if she screws me over, the deal is off. Then there will be no more Bennett's in this world. We will be rid of all the witches.'

'Wherever you go people die, Damon.' Stefan's face was contorted in brooding pain and Damon wanted nothing more than shove his fist in his face and beat the crap out of him. 'You can't possibly mean that if Emily's spell doesn't work you'll look all of her descendants up and kill them?'

'Then help me get Katherine out and I'll be on my way', Damon shrugged. 'That should be an easy enough task even for you. I'll even let you keep Elena; I'm done with her anyway.'

'Even if I wanted her' Stefan said, clearly lying through his teeth, 'she doesn't want me, Damon, she wants you.' Damon enjoyed hearing the hurt coloring his brother' voice.

'Just get that ring off her finger and compel her, if that's what's bothering you. I'll even help you out, seeing as you're doing me a favor.' Damon smiled at him, the smile not reaching his eyes. 'Quid pro quo, brother.' He raised his eyebrows.

'What?' Stefan asked, looking dumbfounded. Damon sighed and took a step closer to him.

'Am I using too big words for you?' He saw Stefan starting to shake his head in annoyance, but he couldn't resist a quip when one presented itself. 'How about – you rub my back and I'll rub yours? That better?'

Stefan stared at him. 'You don't really mean that.'

'Oh, but I do.' Damon smiled at him – a genuine smile. One Stefan hadn't seen him wear for centuries. 'I'm getting Katherine back. ' With one last look at Stefan he sauntered across the floor, towards the entrance, leaving Stefan to process what he'd just found out.

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><p><em>Remember; reviews equals love.<em>


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Another update y'all scream! I KNOW. It's crazy. What's going on ..._

_Haha. I'm just feeling the love so trying to reciprocate :) I'll try to reply to your reviews, but I'm quite busy at work, but as I'm leaving work soon, I'll have more time on my hands._

_This fic is growing... I feel I've got so much to write. Lots of you have asked when it will finish... Tbh, I don't know. Damon is being a good boy, letting me write him, so I'm just going with the flow._

_To all of you reviewing, alerting and being awesome - thank you! You make me wanna do better. I have my trusted beta helping out of course, but you guys play such a huge part in this fic's progress. I'd also like to thank my 'silent readers' - the ones who reads but can't review. Your support means so much to me!_

_Since this is fiction, I'll send out a little warning, maybe I should've sooner. I'm trying to add cannon to this story, but there might be segments out of order or not in it at all. Imagine that in a world where Damon would have met Elena first, his actions would have changed the course of a lot of things that happened in the world where Stefan met Elena... The world of fiction - where imagination runs free. Haha._

_OK! Enough blabber..._

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><p>Elena was standing in front of her vanity table brushing her hair just as Damon appeared behind her, gingerly touching her waist. He pressed himself against her and rubbed his nose in her hair, breathing her in. She could smell the sweet trace of bourbon on him, and just as she was about to scold him for drinking during the day, he turned her around, grabbed her face between his hands and kissed her until she had to come back up for air.<p>

'What was that for?' she whispered against his lips and he shrugged his shoulders, smiling one of those lazy smiles that made her head spin.

'Nothing special.'

He proceeded to walk them over to her bed where he laid her down gently, stroking some of her dark strands behind her ears. He caressed her cheek with one of his long, slender fingers and kissed her once again, this time with much more care and less urgency. He just needed to see her, needed to be close to her. Whatever he'd told Stefan, he knew he wasn't quite done with her yet. Lying to his brother came way to easily to him these days, especially when it came to Elena.

'Look', she said, trying to avoid his insisting mouth. 'There's a party on Saturday at Tyler's, and I want you to come.' She smacked him lightly on the shoulder as he groaned against her cheek. 'I'm serious, you've been dodging me for the last few days and now that I've got you here I'm gonna hold you to your promise.'

Damon leaned back and frowned at her, still stroking her hair lightly. 'What promise?'

Elena grinned at him. 'Not to act all tough with your bad boy attitude.'

Damon laughed. 'First of all, I never made such a promise and second, that's my trademark. I've got a rep to protect, you know.'

'Not around me, you don't. So Saturday it is.'

Damon groaned again and rolled off of her. 'Way to kill the mood, Elena. I don't wanna hang around a bunch of teenagers all night.'

Elena slid on top of him, not letting him get her down, now that she had him to herself. She'd missed him and he was playing hard to get. That was usually _her_ game, but she found herself enjoying this push and pull thing that was going on. It was exciting. She rubbed herself against him and she could feel him harden underneath the rough fabric of his jeans.

'But I'm one of those teenagers, and you don't seem to have a problem with me.' She started moving her way down, lifting his shirt up, kissing her way further down the muscles, rippling under his silky smooth skin. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes.

She found the waistband of his jeans and traced a finger just under the lining, until she reached the zipper which she unceremoniously pulled down. She grabbed hold of his dick that was standing in full attention by now and started stroking him slowly but with a firm hand that made his toes curl.

Damon had tried to stay away from Elena for the mere fact that he hadn't wanted to touch her since the night he'd woke up in a cold sweat thinking that he'd raped her and that Katherine had killed her. A flashback of her vulnerable cry and pained eyes reached him and he opened his eyes with a deep intake of breath just as her hot mouth encircled him. He wasn't sure what excited him more, the memory of his dream or what she was doing to him right now, and he wasn't in a mood to find out.

'Elena, your parents…' he tried to stall, but she wasn't buying it. She slid her tongue along his perineum, which elicited another loud moan from him, before she answered.

'My Mom's gone shopping and my Dad's meeting up with your uncle.'

Her words didn't fully register at first since she'd resumed sucking him so hard he thought his balls would disintegrate. But when he did he sat up with a start, pushing her away from him and placing his aching shaft back inside his jeans before Elena had even realized what happened.

'What are you doing? I thought you'd like getting a blowjob.' She raised her brows flirtatiously.

He stared at her as if she was from another planet, then he shook his head.

'You might think that all I want from you is sex, but it's not. I'm a person too, you know.' This self-righteousness didn't sit right with him at all, and in the middle of trying to figure out what Grayson Gilbert wanted with Zach, he couldn't help but thinking that he was once again acting like a complete fucking loon for turning Elena Gilbert down. The thought nearly made him break into a hysterical fit of laughter. But first things first.

'What does your Dad want with my uncle?'

Elena frowned and sat up, straightening her clothes out. She looked faintly annoyed, and under normal circumstances Damon would find that a huge turn-on, but he had to focus. Grayson and Zach meeting could of course mean a million different things – they were both citizens of this town, and they had known each other for years. But Zach Salvatore was known as a recluse, why he would talk to Grayson about anything other than Damon and Stefan was totally beyond him.

'Look, I'll talk to you later, Elena. I need to go.'

The look on Elena's face was part confusion but also part frustration and sadness. Damon ignored the sinking feeling of failure in the pit of his stomach and concentrated on finding out what was going on. If there was a threat against him, he'd make sure to eliminate it before it got to him, that much was certain. He kissed Elena briefly before he left her standing alone in the middle of her room.

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><p>Damon went straight back to the boarding house but found it empty. He tried calling Stefan, but only got his voice mail. How much brooding could you do, not having the time to answer a goddamn call?, he thought heatedly as he got in his car and drove back into town. He ended up at The Grill to get a quick drink and a bit of time to sort his head out. There was something going on. He'd lived long enough to trust his instincts, and right now they were on high alert.<p>

He took a sip of whiskey and turned around in the bar stool. He looked at the few customers scattered around the room, until he caught sight of two faces he recognized. Mayor Richard Lockwood and his wife, Carol.

He noticed Mayor Lockwood looking around before leaning in towards his wife. Damon cocked his head to listen in.

'What did Gilbert say? Does he have the compass?'

Carol Lockwood nervously shook a tiny bag of sweetener and poured it in her coffee before replying. 'Miranda told me it's safe for now, and that they'll bring it next time we have a council meeting.'

'Good', Mayor Lockwood said, relaxing a little. 'We still need to get hold of Zach Salvatore. He promised me he could get hold of vervain for us.'

Damon could feel that prickly feeling of unease grow into a full-blown adrenaline surge. He knew it. As soon as he heard Elena say her father's name in the same sentence as his uncle's, he'd just known that this was about vampires. He turned back around to the bar, but continued to listen in on the Lockwood's muted conversation.

'Do we even know how many there are?' Carol Lockwood said, exasperated.

'Well, according to the coroner from the last couple of deaths, we're dealing with one.' He shook his head. 'Something about the wound radius and the jaw pattern.'

Carol Lockwood started saying something else, but the Mayor stopped her by covering her hand with his. 'We need to keep it on the down-low. We can't have the whole town knowing about this. It doesn't know that we know, so we just need to find it before it finds us.'

Damon smirked to himself, sipping his drink. This was the third time he'd heard his uncle's name together with humans knowing about vampires. At least this meant that Gilbert had kept his word, and kept his mouth shut about who the vampire might be. He finished his drink and grabbed his jacket. It was time to have a little talk with good old Uncle Zach.

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><p>Stefan knew he had to work fast. He had to find the crystal Damon had been talking about and hand it over to the rightful owners – the Bennett's – before Damon noticed it was gone. He knew there was at least one of them still in town, Sheila Bennett, an old civil rights activist he remembered from the late 1960's. He wasn't sure she'd accept any help or advice from him, but he had to try. He couldn't risk Damon getting Katherine out of the tomb. If Stefan remembered correctly there would be at least twenty-seven vampires in that tomb, if they hadn't succeeded in killing one another. Twenty-seven starving vampires. And he wasn't about to risk this whole town for the sake of Damon's love life.<p>

A shudder went down his spine as he opened the door to Damon's room. He was hardly ever in his brother's room – not that he couldn't enter whenever he wanted to – but he didn't like the room very much. It was sparse. Hardly any personal effects, just some furniture and a huge bathroom adjoining the room. To Stefan that bathroom was a bit too much, but Damon had always had an eye for the garish, and if showing off to him meant having a huge open space bathroom, so be it.

Stefan stood in the middle of the room trying to figure out where Damon would hide the crystal, and what it would look like. He started off with the most obvious hiding places; inside drawers, under the mattress and in the closet. He came up with nothing.

He then proceeded searching the less obvious places; the bathroom, the shower, inside the shower head. He realized he didn't even know the size of the damn thing. He went through the cabinets. Even that silly looking bowl filled with fruity smelling bars of soap (Yea, really. Damon had a girly bowl of colored bars of soap in his bathroom). Stefan shook his head and rolled his eyes while removing the soaps one by one to make sure there wasn't a crystal hidden among them.

Once again he came up empty handed.

He stalked over to the open fire place, but found nothing except soot and an old penny. He was still crouched down next to it when he laid his eyes on the stack of books next to Damon's ridiculously oversized bed. After washing up quickly he went back to have a look. Inside a carved out hole in the middle of an old rendition of 'Gone with the Wind' lay an amber colored crystal. Stefan smiled to himself while pocketing the crystal and made sure everything was back to the way it was when he'd started. He then hurried down the stairs and made a run for Sheila Bennett's house.

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><p>'Dad!' Elena exclaimed. 'You told me weeks ago I could go to Tyler's party; I don't understand what's changed all of a sudden.' Her fiery eyes were trained on her father who was sitting behind his desk in the study.<p>

'When I said you could go, I wasn't aware that you'd be out almost every night _until_ the party. So no, this Saturday you're staying in with your family. We've told Jeremy as well. We haven't had family time in god knows how long, so your mother and I decided this Saturday would be perfect. Mostly because we have no other obligations, so we are all free to spend time together.'

Elena let out a groan of frustration. 'What about my obligations to my friends? I promised Bonnie I would go to the party.'

Grayson Gilbert smiled at her. 'I'm sure Bonnie will understand, since she's one of the people that have been, what is the term these days… hogging your time? And Caroline will be there as well, won't she keeping Bonnie company?'

'Dad, come on. It's only a week left of school and these parties are part of the high school experience, you've told me I should enjoy them for as long as I can.' Elena tried another tactic to get her way. She'd been longing for this party for weeks, especially now that Damon was going to show, making her look like high school royalty.

'Elena', her father said, his voice stern. 'This discussion is finished. I've said no already. You're only sixteen, and you can't go to every party there is.' His tone softened when he took in her disappointed face. 'There is still one week left of school, and even if most grades are already set, there is still one last final to go. Spend this weekend studying for it and spend some time with your family. You'll have all summer to go to parties and hang out with friends.'

'You don't understand, I have a date this Saturday. It's important.'

Elena was too upset to notice her father stiffen in his seat. 'I thought you said you were going with Bonnie.'

'Yea, well, I'm going to the party with Damon, but I've promised Bonnie to keep her company, since she doesn't have a date.'

Grayson got out of his chair, walked up to Elena and put his hands on her shoulders. 'I think you and Damon are spending and awful lot of time together, and I'm thinking maybe you're getting serious too soon. I don't want you to get sucked into something that you're too young to handle right now. He's older than you…'

Elena interrupted him. 'I've already had this conversation with Mom. I'm not too young and he's not too old and we're seeing each other so you're just going to have to accept that.' She took a step back from her father and crossed her arms in front of her. 'I need to go to that party on Saturday, Dad.'

Grayson straightened his back and looked straight at his stubborn daughter. 'And I've told you that you can't. No 'but's' Elena, you're not going.'

'Fine', she hissed and stormed out of the room. Grayson sat back down in his chair. Being a father to a teenage daughter was hard enough on a regular basis. Being the father of Elena Gilbert could be even worse. She'd inherited her mother's stubborn streak. He smiled remembering what he and Miranda had gone through in their youth to be able to see each other. He was glad that Elena had more respect for her parents to try and do anything like they had done.

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><p>After knocking on Sheila Bennett's front door, Stefan took a step back and waited. He wasn't sure she would help him, but he had to try. As it was now, there was a chance that he could stay in this town for at least a few years, until people started noticing he wasn't getting any older and he had to move on, but if Damon managed to get Katherine out of that tomb, there wasn't a chance in hell that would happen. He knew Katherine. She plotted and schemed, and she hated the humans of Mystic Falls. He doubted that would have changed, especially after 145 years stuck in an underground prison.<p>

Sheila Bennett opened the door carefully. She'd known even before she'd put her hand on the door knob that there was a vampire outside.

'Can I help you?' she said quietly to the young man standing on her porch. He gave her a small smile as he stretched his hand out to her.

'I'm Stefan Salvatore, Ms. Bennett.'

'I know who you are', she replied, taking his hand, but let it go just as quickly. 'What I'd like to know is what you're doing here.'

'If you know who I am, I'm pretty sure you know what I am as well. Am I correct about that assumption? Stefan said, his features serious, hands in his pockets.

Sheila Bennett nodded and gave him a grim smile. 'Yes, I do, and I hope that also means you understand why I'm not going to invite you in.'

Stefan looked down on his feet, before he smiled and nodded back. 'I understand.'

'So', Sheila prodded. 'I doubt you're here to just stand around shuffling your feet.'

'No, I'm here to bring back something that I think might belong to your family. Something that I think would be best to return to you so it won't end up in the wrong hands.'

'You mean, in the hands of your brother?' Sheila smiled widely at the stunned look on Stefan's face. 'Don't look so surprised. I'm a witch, of course I know when a vampire is back in town.'

'Right, of course', Stefan replied and reached into his jacket pocket. 'Here. This is a crystal that used to belong to…'

Sheila finished the sentence for him. '…Emily Bennett. I know, I've seen it before.' She looked up at Stefan. 'How did you come to find it?'

Stefan hesitated, but knew he had to tell her the truth, or else she wouldn't help him. 'From my brother, Damon. Somehow he got Emily to cast a spell by using this crystal and the comet that was passing at the time, to keep someone safe until he could get her back again. Someone that was very special to him. She is also a vampire and Emily used to be her hand maiden.'

'I'm guessing this someone used to be very special to you too.' Sheila said, her dark eyes scanning Stefan's face. 'And you want me to help bring her back?'

Stefan shook his head vehemently. 'No, quite the opposite. She's a powerful vampire and bringing her back would be fatal to this whole community.' Stefan took a step closer to the entrance and met Sheila's eyes squarely. 'I want you to make sure that Katherine will never be able to get out from where she's being kept. Ever. Not only is she dangerous. She was trapped inside a tomb under the old church ruins together with twenty six other vampires. Freeing her would probably mean that the others would be freed as well.'

Sheila casually looked around before she held her hand out so Stefan could place the crystal in her hand. 'I'll see what I can do.' She hesitated before she started closing the door. 'You made the right decision coming here.'

Stefan nodded once before he turned around and walked away.

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><p>It was getting dark outside as Zach stepped into the library. He wasn't used to leaving the large estate he was living in, and it took a lot out of him every time he decided to venture outside its boundaries.<p>

He wished he could afford to indulge in a large whiskey on the rocks, one of his favorite guilty pleasures. But with Damon and Stefan around he was too afraid to let his guard down. Too afraid to relax.

Damon had always seemed to enjoy torturing him and making his life miserable. Ever since he was a teenager and he had found out what those two distant uncles had really been, there hadn't been a moment of peace whenever Uncle Damon decided to visit. This time was no exception. Except, this time, Damon had made the mistake of setting his eyes on the daughter of one of the members of the Founder's Council. The Founder's Council was to the town known as a group of people from the founding families of Mystic Falls who kept the memory of the town alive, kept it growing and evolving. But behind closed doors, the Founder's Council kept the town safe from evil, and had done so for a very long time. From a time where there were supernatural creatures living among them, feeding on them, killing them.

To the rest of the founding families it mostly had to do with myth and legends. But to some of them, it was real and terrifying. The only reason Zach was guarding the well-kept secret of his own family was the fact that he didn't know what would happen to him if anyone found out. But when Damon turned up this time, and seemed intent on staying, Zach had known he had to tell someone.

Zach had always suspected that there wasn't much he could do if Damon decided he wanted him dead, so in telling Grayson Gilbert about his 'nephew's' true nature, he'd wanted to make sure someone would be able to get his killer. Zach doubted Stefan would ever hurt him, but he'd heard about the younger brother's past. He knew that none of them could be fully trusted, not even Stefan.

So when Grayson had showed up, telling him that Damon had gotten his hands on his daughter, they were trying to conjure up a plan to get rid of him once and for all. Zach had wanted the rest of the council to know, but Grayson was afraid. He said that Damon was far too cunning. That Damon had found out truths about the Gilberts that Grayson had hidden and almost forgotten about himself. So no, Elena's life was at stake, they couldn't tell the council, not until Damon was caught and staked.

He was so caught up in his own thoughts he didn't hear the front door open and close behind him. He was too preoccupied trying to figure out how to render Damon Salvatore helpless that he never noticed the shadow move past him in lightning speed. Not until he was shoved against the far wall, choking from being lifted by his throat, staring straight into Damon's vividly blue eyes, did he understand how vulnerable he truly was.

'I've been ingesting vervain for sixteen years', he managed to choke out. Damon smirked at him, tightening his grip around Zach's neck.

'Yea, about that…' Damon said very slowly, which was also the last thing Zach Salvatore heard before his world turned black.

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><p><em>Remember; reviews equals love.<em>


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: Yet again I apologize for taking my time updating. But I'm giving you an extra long chapter as a way to get you guys to forgive me ;)_

_Thanks my Beta for helping me out. And to BadBoysAreBest for her awesome "Seventeen" playlist._

_Things are about to heat up in Mystic Falls, my friends..._

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><p>Zach Salvatore couldn't breathe. There was a pounding in his head and it took him a while to realize that it was his own pulse he could feel beating inside his head, beating hard and fast. He tried to swallow but there was something preventing him to. Something strong and unrelenting.<p>

He pried his eyes open by sheer force, they felt as if they were glued shut, and as he did he met Damon's piercing blue eyes, lazily giving him a once over. Zach was laying on the floor, with Damon hovering above him, his hand in a tight grip around Zach's neck.

'Rise and shine, sleepy head', Damon smirked.

Zach opened his mouth to say something, but nothing more than a gurgle came out, since Damon's hand was almost crushing his larynx.

'I know', Damon soothed and eased up on his grip, just enough to let Zach draw a painful breath. 'But you need to wake up so you can give me the information that I need.'

Damon leaned in closer to Zach, making his hand tighten yet again around Zach's neck.

'Why would the Lockwoods assume you could give them vervain, since I _know_ you know that I specifically forbid this family from growing it? Still, what do I hear while I'm having a quiet drink in town? Hmm?' He looked poignantly at Zach who could feel the blood freeze in his veins.

'Do you know how many bones there are to break in a full grown human body?' Damon whispered into Zach's ear, sending shivers of fear down his spine. 'Two hundred and six to be precise, and trust me when I say; I have the patience to break all of them and the anatomy lessons to boot, so you'd better spill.'

'What's this council I keep hearing about and how come you're a part of it?' Damon's voice was quiet but demanding. Zach shook his head almost unperceptively. Damon narrowed his eyes. So the old douche was trying to act tough?

'I'm not playing games, Zach,' he hissed. 'Tell me or I'll start breaking bones.'

Zach lifted his chin defiantly, but his whole body was shaking and he could barely meet Damon's gaze. Damon contemplated this for a second. Either he'd start off with something big, like his arm, that was sure to hurt and more to the point, get him talking, but that would also most likely render Zach unconscious, which in turn wouldn't serve its purpose. Or he'd start off small but sending the message through.

From experience, Damon knew that to a human not used to violence, a little bit of blood usually would be enough incentive to get them to talk. With Zach it would be more than enough. But he wanted to really get his point across.

Still with a firm grip around Zach's neck, and his other around Zach's arm, he crashed Zach into the wall behind them, eliciting another groan from Zach as the back of his head hit the wooden panels.

Damon took a step back, still holding on to Zach's neck and hit Zach on the bridge of his noise with one quick measured movement. He could hear the satisfying crunch as the bone splintered and Zach's cry of pain. The nose was a sure thing when it came to causing less damage to the person, but a lot of damage to the psyche. Nose bleeds were very rarely fatal (unless you managed to send the broken bone into the brain by hitting in the wrong spot) but the amount of blood was frightening even to the bravest of men if it had never happened to them before.

'That's one', Damon grinned viciously. 'Like I said, I've got all the time in the world. Who's part of the council, Zach?'

'Please', Zach pleaded, tears of pain streaming from his eyes, mixing with the blood that was flowing freely from his nostrils. The panic in his eyes all the more palpable as he tried getting his hands to cover his broken nose and Damon batting his hands away with a menacing smirk on his face.

'No, no, no Zach. No begging, it doesn't become you, 'Damon scolded. 'It's bordering on pathetic. Just tell me how the Lockwoods and the Gilberts all seem to know about vampires. 'He studied Zach's face, the blood streaming down his chin and over Damon's hand. Damon stretched his neck in annoyance at the probability of Zach ruining his new leather jacket.

Zach whimpered, but still showed no inclination that he would talk.

Damon's eyes snapped back up to Zach's contorted face. 'This has got to do with the founding families', he said, more to himself than Zach. 'Who else knows – the Fells and the Forbes? How do they know about us?' He squeezed Zach's neck harder, pressing him closer to the wall. If Gilbert had ratted him out he was going after _him_ next.

Zach blinked a few times, trying to focus through the pain, but he couldn't. The panic was rolling over him in waves – pressing against his lungs, obliterating any coherent thoughts.

'Tell me about the Founder's Council. Who are the members; you, the Lockwoods and the Gilberts – who else?'

Zach drew a shaky breath before he started talking. 'The Fells and the sheriff. We're all on the council. But we hadn't met before all these unexplained deaths started to crop up. All of them, except me, really didn't want to believe what they were hearing. The sheriff has officially ruled the deaths as animal attacks so the public won't get suspicious.'

Damon couldn't help smiling. 'And you think it's all me?'

'Who else _could_ it be?' Zach exclaimed, an accusing look in his eyes. 'Uncle Stefan wouldn't…' Damon's hand around his throat strangled the rest of what he was about to say and all coming out from his lips was a wheezing sound.

'I'm asking the questions, dear Zach', Damon said dangerously once again easing his grip on the older man's neck just enough for him to breathe.

'W-what do you want to know?' Zach stammered, trying to ignore the stabbing pain traveling out from his broken nose, through his cheekbones and behind his ears. There was a loud ringing noise echoing inside his head, one that he knew came from the impact of the blow to his nose, where the back of his skull had hit the wall.

Damon pretended to contemplate this for a moment. 'How did Gilbert know that I'm a vampire?'

Zach's heartbeats accelerated, which alerted Damon. He cocked his head to the side. 'You told him, didn't you?' he said quietly, his nostrils flaring, sensing Zach's pending terror. 'You told him so I wouldn't get near Elena.'

Zach started shaking his head vehemently. 'No, I didn't.'

'Don't lie to me.' Damon clenched his jaw and let his eyes wander around the room with a contemplating look on his face. 'Never mind, that's of no importance now. What's done is done. Let's talk vervain.' His voice turned velvety. 'Where is it?'

Zach hesitated. If he told Damon where he was hiding it, there would be no vervain for the rest of the founders' members ever again, and then Damon would be able to do whatever he liked to anyone. But if he didn't tell Damon…

Damon had had enough pussyfooting around this fucker. He flipped Zach over and pushed him back down on the floor, pulling his arm up behind him towards the ceiling, holding him down by putting his knee in the middle of Zach's back.

'Which would you prefer? Arm or finger?' Damon hissed between his teeth.

'No.' Zach's voice came out a whisper. He started to realize this wasn't going to end any time soon; there wasn't anything he could do or say. He'd have to give Damon the information, but if he did, the Founder's Council would be no more. His breathing came out in short bursts; his heart was beating irregularly, making him feel faint.

'Not asking again, uncle.' Damon's voice was dripping with sarcasm. He grabbed hold of Zach's left middle finger and flicked his wrist. Zach let out a howl of pain as the finger snapped backwards.

'Now. You will tell me about the Founder's Council and this compass they're talking about or I swear to god your neck will be next.'

Zach could barely concentrate on Damon's voice through the searing pain in his hand. 'You mean the watch?' he whispered.

'Is that what it is, a watch? Is it a compass or a watch?' Damon bent Zach's arm a little bit more backwards, earning him another muffled moan from Zach.

'It's a compass, but looks like an old pocket watch.'

Damon thought this over for a moment. 'What's it for? And I heard Gilbert's got it? Why does the Lockwoods need it?'

Zach's eyelids were fluttering shut, so Damon poked his broken finger with a venomous smile. Zach howled once again and tried to wrench himself lose.

'Tell me.' Damon demanded. 'I'm out of patience soon.'

'It's a device to find vampires', Zach cried out. 'The Lockwoods need it to find the vampires in Mystic Falls. Together with the Gilberts, they plan to kill you.'

'Huh.' Damon said. 'I can't help but feel a little upset by this information. And you were in on this, Zach? My own flesh and blood?' Damon's upper lip twitched in anger. 'I'm guessing Brother Dearest was in on this little stunt as well.' He shook his head as Zach started talking. 'No, spare me your apologies. I'm very disappointed in the both of you. And since Stefan isn't here to take his part of the blame in trying to get rid of me, so… vindictively, you will have to take the brunt of it.'

Damon let go of Zach's arm and put his hands on either side of Zach's head and twisted his hands in one swift move. 'Goodbye Zach.'

* * *

><p>Elena woke up with a smile on her lips. It was Saturday morning and tonight would be the night she would give herself to Damon completely. Tonight would be the night she'd show him that she trusted him entirely. He didn't know it yet; he only knew that she wanted him around for the party Tyler was throwing. Her father telling her she couldn't go wasn't going to stop her.<p>

She stretched out like a cat on the bed before flinging back her covers. She walked over to the bathroom to get ready, before heading out for her usual weekend breakfast get-together over almond lattes with Bonnie and Caroline at the café.

Damon's game of hide and seek wasn't really bothering her any longer. She had come to the conclusion that she got to him and he didn't like it, and the reason she got to him was that he liked her. A lot.

It was in the little things he did, things she was sure he wasn't really paying any attention to himself. Like showing up unannounced in her room with her favorite magazine and a bar of chocolates. Or the way he seemed to sense she was feeling sad, bringing her her favorite movie to watch with a bowl of popcorn. Or just the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't watching. Under that black leather jacket bad boy exterior, he was nothing more than a soft teddy. He just wasn't aware of it yet. But he would be. Elena smirked to herself. Damon Salvatore wouldn't know what hit him when she was through with him. Now that she was sure of his feelings for her, nothing was going to stop her from getting what she wanted. Not even Damon himself.

* * *

><p>Damon was casually walking up to the bar at The Grill when he recognized Carol Lockwood's slightly raised tone, making it even more nasal than usual. It was obvious she was having a bit of a tiff with her husband, Mayor Richard Lockwood. Damon turned to the bar to order a bourbon, while listening in, a little amused to what he was hearing.<p>

Carol Lockwood was upset that her husband hadn't heard from Zach Salvatore in a few days spite his promise to produce vervain for them, and Mayor Lockwood was feeling sorry for himself for having to listen to his wife's whining another minute.

Through the mirror behind the bar, Damon could see Mayor Lockwood walk swiftly towards the entrance, leaving his wife sipping her drink, taking care not to show what had just transpired.

Damon nodded to the bartender to bring him another drink and pointed in the direction of Carol Lockwood, before he sauntered over to the table where she was sitting.

'Carol', he smiled widely and casually leaned on the empty chair opposite her. She looked startled for a moment until she seemed to recognize him.

'Damon Salvatore, if memory serves. You were Elena Gilbert's date to the auction.' She gave him a knowing smile.

'Oh, well. I wouldn't call it a date exactly. My uncle and her father are friends. Zach asked me to go with her, since her date cancelled. And as my younger brother is dating her friend they thought it was a good idea.' Damon's smile widened and he winked. 'Family favors, I'm sure you understand.'

'Of course.' Carol Lockwood eyed him up and down before offering him a seat.

Just as he sat down, one of the waitresses came over with Damon's drink. 'How rude of me', he said to Carol. 'Can I offer you another', he glanced at her drink. '… Gin and tonic?'

She started protesting mildly, saying it was too early for another drink, but he could tell she wasn't going to turn him down. 'I insist', he smirked and the waitress scurried off with the new drinks order.

'You know the Salvatore's were one of this town's original settlers.' Carol Lockwood said as she took a sip from the drink Damon bought her.

'Yes, they were', Damon replied, smiling. 'And Zach told me he's a member of the Founder's Council that all the founding families are part of. I just recently moved back home and I really haven't had a chance to meet any of his friends, except Grayson and Miranda.'

'Well, when you see him, will you tell him to return my calls', Carol smiled. 'I've left him several messages.'

Damon looked down at his hands, lying perfectly still on the table. They were long and slender, not a single mark on them. Perfect and white and lethal.

He looked up at Carol Lockwood and tilted his head a little, letting a smile graze his lips.

'Zach went out of town for a bit. But if it's about the vervain…' He let the words sink in for a bit.

Carol looked at him, surprise etched on her features. 'You know about the vervain?' Her voice was a mere whisper as she looked around the restaurant.

'I'm a Salvatore', Damon replied in a conspiratorial voice, almost smirking. 'Of course I do.'

'Of course', Carol said, blushing, which Damon had to admit, quite suited her.

Damon raised his glass to her and winked again, this time the smile on his face was suggestive to the point of flirtatious. 'Cheers', he said. Carol Lockwood had the decency to avert her eyes, before she raised her glass to his.

'Cheers.'

* * *

><p>It was on the third attempt calling him that Elena got hold of Damon, and he was being unusually evasive of his whereabouts the last few days.<p>

'Look, Damon, I know you don't like my friends much, but I really don't see the problem. At the end of the day, it's me you're spending time with, not them.' Elena didn't like the feeling of acting like a whiny brat, but he really had the knack of bringing the ugly out of her.

Damon sighed. 'Look, something's come up and I'm not sure I can make it tonight. Make it up to you another day?'

Elena frowned at the phone. 'I bet you're just making that up so you won't have to show. Well, tough. You're coming – that's final. I even had to lie to my parents to get out of the house tonight, so you're just gonna have to deal.'

'Elena.' There was a warning tone to Damon's voice, which she heartily ignored.

'Damon. You said you'd come.'

'Actually, Elena, I didn't. You made that decision for me, and I don't appreciate it. I'm not some whipped little school boy who will bend to your every whim. Just cause you're the Queen Bee in that little world you call High School – in _real_ life you're nothing more than a teen with an attitude. So drop it. I'll come if I can make it, if not, _you_ deal.'

* * *

><p>Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes felt as if she was meant to be swamped by paperwork. Wherever she turned there was a report to fill out or some document that needed her signature. She sighed and reached for another file from the ever growing 'not finished' pile just as one of her deputies carefully knocked on her door.<p>

'Enter', she barked, annoyed at being disturbed.

'Sorry, Sheriff Forbes. There's a Damon Salvatore here to see you.'

Sheriff Forbes looked up in curiosity at the sound of the surname of her visitor. 'Send him in', she told the deputy, who quickly ushered a stunningly attractive young man, with the most amazing blue eyes she'd ever laid eyes on, into her office before closing the door behind him.

She composed herself quickly but Damon was well aware of the impression he'd made on her.

'Please, sit down, Mr. Salvatore. I'm glad to finally get to put a face to the name', she said, indicating towards a visitor's chair in front of her desk. She started clearing some of the papers to one side, trying her best to cover up the files of the mysterious animal attacks that she now knew for sure were the work of a vampire. 'I heard from Mrs. Lockwood that your uncle is out of town?'

'Yes, he is. But I spoke with Zach and he filled me in and asked if I could bring you this.' Damon handed over a small cardboard box he was holding before sitting down. 'It's all we have at the moment. I hope it's enough.'

Sheriff Forbes opened the box, stunned that this young man seemed so well aware of this town's secret. She'd known Zach Salvatore's young nephews had arrived a few weeks previously, especially since her daughter, Caroline, couldn't stop talking about the younger of them, Stefan. But she'd not for a million years thought they were in on the vampire problem the town seemed to be having.

'Vervain.' She smiled tentatively at Damon, before she nodded. 'This should be enough.'

'Well, let me know if I should try to get a hold of more. I'm assuming your deputies are using vervain as well.'

Sheriff Forbes nodded again. 'It's for the Founder's Council members and our families. My deputies. And our friends, of course.'

'Of course.' Damon gave her a concerned smile. 'Are we any closer?'

Sheriff Forbes only hesitated for a mere second. 'I think we have our facts wrong. We've always believed that our vampires can only come out in the dark. What if that's changed?'

Damon narrowed his eyes. So that had been their angle; that vampires could only walk around during the night? He gave her a lopsided smile. He kept forgetting about the boring lives of normal vampires, since he'd had his daylight ring from the very beginning. 'Is that even possible?' he asked.

'We've exhausted every other option. During the auction we held a few weeks back, we were looking only at those who wouldn't show up in the daytime.'

Damon pretended to give this some thought. 'So what's the next step?'

Sheriff Forbes smiled at the young man in front of her. She admired courage of the sort Damon Salvatore was displaying right now. So young and willing to dive into the midst of things. 'We're looking at anyone new to town since the deaths began. That should turn up a suspect or two.'

So now they were looking for vampires who could walk around during the day as well? –That was a slightly bigger problem. He would have to find a way around that. Damon started getting out of the chair. 'And I, of course, will do anything I can to help.'

Sheriff Forbes gave him a grateful smile. 'Thank you, Damon. I really appreciate it.'

* * *

><p>Elena was slowly giving up on Damon. She stared at her cellphone screen. If he didn't call her back within the next ten minutes she'd go without him. She sat still for a second before nearly laughing out loud. Who was she kidding? He wasn't going to call her. He'd told her already that he didn't want to go, and she knew him well enough. If he didn't want to do something, he wouldn't.<p>

But he was supposed to do what she wanted because he liked her. Because he wanted her to be happy. Ugly emotions started creeping up inside her head. Insecurity and anger. Words he'd said that she'd been pushing away for weeks now.

_This is what you get with me. I don't play house._ _I'm not some whipped little school boy who will bend to your every whim. Don't ruin it._

She looked at herself in the mirror. No one, not even Damon Salvatore was going to ruin her night out. She inhaled deeply. He'd soon find out what he was missing out on. She smiled at herself before scrolling down to Bonnie's name in her phone list.

'Hey, Bonnie. Slight change of plans, I might actually stay at _yours_ tonight after all. Damon's a no show, but I'm not gonna let his crappy attitude ruin my night. You got vodka, right?'

* * *

><p>Stefan couldn't stop looking at Elena. For every time he saw her she seemed to become more and more out of control. She was smiling, but behind that smile was a sadness that he knew could only mean one thing; Damon.<p>

Right now she was downing shots together with Tyler and Matt from the football team, and they were cheering her on, while they really should be stopping her. She laughed out loud as she tripped over someone's leg in an attempt to grab hold of Matt when he pinched her side playfully. Luckily Matt managed to steady her just before she toppled over.

Caroline was trying to get Stefan's attention back to her by putting her slender arms around his neck and kissing a pattern along his jaw. He smiled absently at her before resuming watching Elena.

'Hey', Caroline pouted. 'You're not paying any attention to me at all? What are you looking at?' She started turning around to follow his gaze, but he snapped out of it quickly and smiled down at her.

'I'm sorry, Care. I'm a bit…' He drifted off. 'I just have to go make a call. I'll be right back.' He managed to disentangle himself from Caroline, whose pout he wanted to kiss away, but there was someone else more in need of his attention than his girlfriend.

Stefan grabbed his cell from his back pocket as he turned the corner, out on the patio, and called his brother. 'Damon, where are you?'

'On a beach in Malibu sipping a Mai Tai.' Damon drawled. 'What's it to you anyway?'

Stefan ignored his brother's sarcastic comment. 'Aren't you supposed to join Elena at Tyler's?'

'Nope.' Damon swirled the whiskey around the tumbler he was holding, watching the amber liquid intently, trying not to think of Elena's soft lips and satin eyes. 'I've told you already, you can have her. I'm done with her.'

'Damon…' Stefan sighed. His brother could be such a dick. 'She's getting past wasted. You need to get here. Soon.'

'Don't tell me what to do, brother.' With that he hung up. He wasn't going to go; he had better things to do. Like drinking. Or staring at the wall.

Or drinking.

Shaking his head slowly, he finished his drink and stood up.

He was so whipped.

* * *

><p>He heard the car before he saw it. The taillights making swirling red marks against the darkness as the car skidded across the road, heading towards Wickery Bridge. Damon narrowed his eyes. It was the Gilbert family car.<p>

He knew from the direction they were going that they were heading towards their home, and a thousand thoughts managed to cross his mind within the split second it took the car to swerve onto the bridge and crash straight through the safety barrier and into the dark water. Should he help them? Was Elena in the car with them? Did he care?

Damon's muscles twitched, unsure whether he should go after them or if he should just leave them to it. After all, it wasn't his problem and Gilbert dying would make things so much easier. One problem less to worry about. Still, he hesitated before he turned back to where he was going and he looked towards the bridge. From where he was standing he couldn't see the car at all. He took a few steps closer, then turned around resolutely, away from the crash, but stopped. _Fuck_, he thought, then turned back around and ran towards the bridge and the crash site.

As he neared the bridge, something startled him. He thought he could see the outline of a person standing close to where the car had started skidding.

'Hey?' he called out, but in the blink of an eye, the shadow was gone, and he wasn't sure there had been anything there in the first place. He shook himself out of it and walked over on to the bridge.

The car wasn't fully submerged when he reached the edge of the bridge, but it was filling fast with murky water. If he concentrated, he could just about discern two heartbeats; one slow and steady and another uneven and beating fast. He swore again as he kicked his shoes off, while shrugging off his leather jacket and jumping in. Even to his cooler skin, the water was freezing and another stream of obscenities came out of his mouth.

He could see Grayson Gilbert fighting with his seatbelt, panic rippling through his entire being, the water coming almost to his chest. The car was slanting heavily to the right, which meant that in just a moment or two it would be completely submerged. Damon reached the door handle and shouted at Grayson, who startled gave a noise like a wounded animal as soon as he saw Damon's face.

'I'll get you out, but when I open the door the car will go down fast, so just get past me and I'll get your wife.' Damon could see Miranda Gilbert's lifeless body leaning against the passenger seat door, blood sticking to her face. Damon knew a serious head injury when he saw one and her heartbeat was surprisingly strong for someone that wounded, but he pushed the thought away and concentrated on the matter at hand – getting Grayson out first.

Grayson shook his head violently, his hands still fighting the seatbelt. 'I'm stuck, my legs…' Damon glanced at the wheel, which had, because of the impact to the water, near enough crushed his legs.

'Don't worry, I'll help you out', Damon said and started tugging at the door handle, but Grayson stopped him.

'Please, help Elena first, she's in the back.' Damon stared at the older man incredulously.

'W-what?' He couldn't have heard him right. He started looking towards the back but even with his improved eyesight, he couldn't see through the muddy water that had submerged most of the back and was now reaching Grayson's shoulders.

'You promised me.' Grayson's breath caught as the car tilted even more and the body of the car was starting to disappear into the darkness. 'To keep Elena safe…' Damon watched in horror as Grayson drew one last breath before the car sunk towards the bottom of the lake.

'No!' At first Damon didn't understand where the strange noise came from, since there was no one else there, until he realized it was his own voice almost unrecognizable from dread. He dived in after the car, the taillights showing dimly through the darkness, leading the way. He didn't care for Grayson still fighting the belt that was sure to be the death of him, not a safety measure any longer. All his senses were zoned in on Elena.

As he reached the door to the back, all he could think of was the two heartbeats he'd heard – thinking they'd been Grayson's and Miranda's, when in reality, one of them could be Elena's. Fear washed over him as he realized; the two heartbeats might still be Grayson's and his wife's. He started pulling the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. Not even his vampire strength could win against the heavy weight of the water. In his mind he was still shouting, not even words, just a loud throbbing scream. Why had he hesitated coming over? Why hadn't he thought of the fact that Elena being in the car was more than a probability – but a certainty? They'd been coming from the direction of the Lockwoods after all.

This was not the time to panic he tried to reason, but in the corner of his eye he'd seen that Grayson had stopped struggling and he knew that he might be too late. It felt like a knife twisted his insides, as if a large fist was squeezing his heart and with all the powers he knew, his clenched fist went flying towards the window. The glass didn't shatter because of the water, but fine cracks like a spider web adorned the window and with a few quick kicks he managed to get the window clean out of the back door.

He reached inside the car, pushing his way in until he reached her. He felt her soft arm before he could see her, the muddy water making it hard to see. He searched along after her body after the seatbelt, and when he did, he ripped it off her in one swift move.

Elena was light as a feather, even unconscious. It didn't take him long to reach the soft grass by the side of the stream. Damon gingerly felt for her pulse, swearing out loud when he could barely feel the fluttering beat, as weak as the heartbeat of a tiny bird. She wasn't breathing so he laid her flat on her back and gave her CPR, thanking the gods (or whoever might still be inclined to show him mercy) that he remembered the course he'd taken once in the late 80's out of pure boredom.

He'd never really thought he'd get to use these skills. Saving a human life, not taking it… He quickly forgot about those thoughts as Elena started coughing up some nasty water. Damon sat back in relief, before he put her into the recovery position and called for an ambulance. He tried going down to see if there was anything he could do for Grayson and Miranda, but there was nothing to be done. They were both gone.

He sat down next to Elena again. Pushing some of her hair behind her ear, he stroked her cheek gently. Her breathing was shallow and her pulse very slow. Too slow.

Very carefully, he began checking her for broken bones. Her ribs seemed intact, but one of her shoulders seemed dislocated. He was afraid of internal injuries, the kind he couldn't see. She wasn't conscious and he needed to get her shoulder corrected. He needed to know she was going to be ok.

He braced himself against the ground and pulled Elena against him in a reverse embrace. He then grabbed her arm and pushed his other hand against her shoulder and with a quick pull, he set her shoulder right. She barely moved when he did, which alerted him that she was probably in a worse state than he had first thought.

Inhaling deeply he made a decision. He felt his face change and his fangs come down. He bit his wrist and held it to Elena's mouth. 'Please, drink', he whispered. 'Please, just do it.'

He didn't have time to check if it worked as he could hear the sirens from the ambulance in the distance. He laid Elena back down on the ground, careful not to hurt her, before wiping her mouth clean from his blood.

The last thing he did before he positioned himself behind some shrubbery to make sure the ambulance reached Elena, was getting rid of the window he'd kicked in. Most of it was still intact and he let it fall to the bottom of the lake. He also pulled Grayson free of the seatbelt so it might look as if Elena's father had helped Elena out of the car.

As the paramedics drove off, Damon slowly rose from his hiding spot. He took a shaky breath he didn't' even need to take. But somehow he found himself having held it all this time.

He looked down at his long and slender hands. They looked almost silver in the moonlight. Perfect and white and shaking.

* * *

><p><em>AN: We're now getting closer to where the show actually starts. Remember, Damon's actions have changed the course of VD history as we know it... *said with a smile* _

_Don't you think in this alternate universe Elena would've thought Damon was such a douche she wouldn't have been with him at all? Or do you think that she'd have seen past his bad boy bravado and fought to find the caring person he's been so hellbent on trying to hide from all of us?_


End file.
